Power traces: How an uncommon alliance is now combating for overhead energy traces throughout the nation | EUROtoday

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EIt is a exceptional political combine that’s brewing between the federal authorities and the states in these first days of the summer time holidays. Winfried Kretschmann, the Green Party's Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg, is there. So is Michael Kretschmer, CDU head of presidency in Saxony, and Dietmar Woidke (SPD), Prime Minister of Brandenburg. And the FDP and CDU parliamentary teams within the Bundestag. They all converse out – some extra clearly, some much less clearly – in favor of increasing Germany's electrical energy grids extra rapidly and, above all, extra cost-effectively than beforehand deliberate by the Berlin visitors gentle coalition.

The means to an finish: the departure from the primacy of underground cabling over the cables on masts that had been frequent till then, which was determined by the grand coalition of the SPD and the Union in 2015. Accordingly, the extra energy traces required to implement the power transition ought to usually run underground so as to overcome the resistance of native residents to the development of those traces and to extend acceptance for brand spanking new north-south and east-west cables.

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Problem: The prices for underground cabling are considerably larger than these for overhead traces. The figures given by politicians and route operators in recent times have ranged from twice as costly to 4 instances as excessive to eight instances as costly.

This circumstance apparently didn’t play a serious position in 2015, when the state coffers have been full. But that has modified. Politicians on the federal and state ranges now additionally choose to be extra exact of their calculations.

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According to the unanimous statements of all events concerned, the extra prices attributable to underground cables for the three giant routes that haven’t but been deliberate and are subsequently nonetheless eligible for a expertise change – the North-West Link (DC41), South-West Link (DC42) and East-West Link (DC40), collectively round 1,700 kilometers of cable – are anticipated to be at the very least 20 billion euros. According to Saxony's head of presidency Kretschmer, it is a sum that may “lead to nationwide transmission network fees continuing to rise unchecked” – and thus, within the foreseeable future, additionally to the worth of electrical energy for customers.

Kretschmer, along with Baden-Württemberg's Kretschmann, has launched a Federal Council initiative to desert the precedence given to underground cabling, which was enshrined in regulation in 2015, in favor of less expensive options. However, this will likely be troublesome.

Source: Infographic WELT

Although federal states equivalent to Hesse, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Brandenburg help the initiative of Saxony and Baden-Württemberg when it comes to content material, there are additionally influential opponents of the return to overhead traces. For instance, Lower Saxony's state chief Stephan Weil (SPD), whose state is especially affected by the restructuring of the German energy grid in favor of a renewable power provide. Weil spoke out vehemently in opposition to a return to overhead traces at the newest Minister President Conference (MPK) with the Federal Chancellor.

According to Weil's argument, the underground cable has largely pacified public resistance to the so-called “monster routes”. The present protests in opposition to the laying of underground cables, particularly from the agricultural sector, are a lot milder and may be pacified by compensation preparations. In addition, the electrical energy value will increase attributable to the dearer underground cabling could be comparatively small: round twelve euros per yr and a mean family, as Weil defined to his MPK colleagues.

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The Lower Saxony politician's plea is especially vital as a result of, in line with the unanimous statements of members within the June MPK, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) believes {that a} departure from the primacy of underground cables can solely be applied on the required velocity if all 16 federal states agree on such a step. Weil's decisive vote in opposition to underground cabling thus has the impact of a veto. This is why the Social Democrat issued an offensively worded press launch in the course of the MPK, in line with which, attributable to Scholz's verdict, above-ground energy highways are lastly “off the table”.

In Saxony, issues are seen in a different way. Kretschmer instructed WELT AM SONNTAG that he was “astonished” by the evaluation of his Lower Saxony colleague. Many state premiers welcomed the Saxony-Baden-Württemberg Federal Council initiative in opposition to underground cabling. By returning to overhead traces, the federal and state governments would have the “simple and unique opportunity to drastically and permanently reduce the system costs of the energy transition all at once.” This alternative, stated Kretschmer, “should not be wasted, especially in view of the current economic and budgetary situation.”

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Brandenburg's state authorities, led by Weil's SPD counterpart Dietmar Woidke, additionally continues to advocate the change to overhead traces. “The network expansion must be faster and the energy transition must remain affordable. That is why Brandenburg has spoken out in favor of abolishing the underground cable priority,” stated authorities spokesman Florian Engels. The Federal Council proposal from Saxony and Baden-Württemberg can also be supported by the electrical energy community operators Tennet and TransnetBW, who need to construct important components of the three doable routes and are selling a change to overhead traces. Other supporters embody the Federation of German Industries, the German Trade Union Confederation, the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations and components of the visitors gentle coalition.

For instance, the power coverage spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, Michael Kruse, is vehemently in favor of switching to overhead traces. “Underground cables should only be used where overhead lines are not reasonable,” calls for Kruse, combining his plea with a normal assault on the 2 visitors gentle coalition companions that’s fairly impolite even by FDP requirements. “The fact that red and green parties in state governments are fighting for particularly complex and expensive network expansion is a blackout for the interests of electricity customers and a setback for the industrial location.”

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The Liberals are receiving help from the Union faction, which submitted a movement to the Bundestag within the spring that energy traces must be laid extra above floor sooner or later. Andreas Jung, deputy CDU federal chairman and faction spokesman for local weather safety and power, criticizes the Chancellor specifically for his blocking stance. “Instead of weighing things up sensitively, Olaf Scholz wants to stifle the debate.” There is nothing else behind his demand for a uniform method by the states. “But our procedures in the Bundestag and Bundesrat do not recognize any 'ordre du mufti' from the Chancellor,” explains Jung, “a basta from Scholz is no substitute for parliamentary deliberations.”

In the autumn, the subject of energy traces will as soon as once more be on the agenda of the Federal Council and the Federal Parliament. It would be the final probability for the overhead energy traces to return.

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https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article252495536/Stromtrassen-Wie-eine-ungewoehnliche-Allianz-jetzt-fuer-Freileitungen-quer-durch-die-Republik-kaempft.html