Germany’s 50Hertz plans three new underground electricity routes
Photo: Britta Petersen/50Hertz.
German TSO 50Hertz is planning three new underground electricity routes, most of which will run in tunnels deep underneath the city.
According to 50Hertz in a release, projections indicate that electricity consumption in Berlin will almost double over the next decade due to the decarbonisation of heat supply, increasing e-mobility and digitalisation.
The Federal Requirements Plan provides for more powerful electricity lines to supply power to the capital, including four expansion or new construction projects with a total length of around 75km in Berlin and neighbouring Brandenburg.
50Hertz has presented three of these planned lines. Two are to be added to the current main electricity artery, the Berlin diagonal pober link between the Teufelsbruch substation in the west and Marzahn in the east of the city. The section between Teufelsbruch and Reuter will be made more efficient in the form of a replacement.
Commenting in a release was Stefan Kapferer, 50Hertz CEO: “A reliable supply with green energy is crucial for Berlin as a business location.
“With the three new underground lines, we are strengthening the infrastructure without unduly affecting the urban space. This is how we are securing the energy future of our capital city. However, it is also clear that building in high-density inner-city areas is a technical challenge and requires a broader dialogue with all relevant interest groups.
“We therefore urge politicians to actively support these important energy transition projects. Only through joint action can Berlin continue to be reliably and securely supplied with electricity in the future and achieve its statutory climate protection targets.”
Have you read:
National Grid contracts Spain’s Ferrovial for Grain to Tilbury cable tunnel upgrade
Site selected for US’ largest submarine power cable manufacturing site
The new projects are as follows:
Berlin diagonal power link – new section between Reuter and Teufelsbruch
The new Berlin diagonal between the Rudolf-Wissell Bridge and the Mitte substation (UW), which is currently under construction, will be extended by a section of around six kilometres.
This runs between the Reuter and Teufelsbruch substations. A cable tunnel with an internal diameter of around four metres needs to be planned and constructed at a depth of up to 40 metres. Shafts are being built at three above-ground construction sites in Spandau for this purpose, while the remaining construction work is being carried out underground.
Once the tunnel has been built, this section will replace an existing oil cable route and increase the current capacity between Teufelsbruch and Reuter by around 40%.
Berlin South cable vertical
The 380kV Berlin South cable vertical is planned as a tunnel with a length of around 14km. The initial shaft will be located in Brandenburg near the city borders of Berlin in Großbeeren.
At this point, the overhead line of the Teltow-Fläming grid reinforcement will be connected to the Berlin South cable vertical in the initial shaft. From there, the line will be tunnelled northwards to a newly planned substation at the Lichterfelde combined heat and power plant. The line is expected to run via two further intermediate shafts to the Mitte substation south of Potsdamer Platz.
Cable vertical Berlin North
The construction of an extra-high-voltage line of around 20km in length is planned.
Around 17km of this is to be built as a tunnel and probably three kilometres as an overhead line or underground cable route. The line begins at the Reuter substation, connects a new substation yet to be built in the Tegel search space, runs in as straight a line as possible with two intermediate shafts, each through Reinickendorf and Pankow, and ends at the substation in Malchow.
Two intermediate shafts are planned in Reinickendorf and Pankow. Construction work on the three new projects is expected to begin in stages from 2030 and the lines are scheduled to be commissioned successively from 2036 until the end of the 2030s.
50Hertz, a member of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E), supplies power to approximately 18 million people in Germany.
