– An anniversary for us – E24

Statnett informs E24 that the Nordlink cable between Norway and Germany is now complete. Testing is underway and will continue until early 2021.

On Wednesday, the first current passed through the wire. Electricity with a capacity of 70 megawatts was transferred from Norway to Germany, and the corresponding capacity was returned, says the grid operator.

– It’s an anniversary for us, says Executive Vice President Håkon Borgen at Statnett.

– Now the first megawatts have gone from Norway to Germany, and we have received the same in return. This is the first time that we have exchanged electricity between the two countries. So far, this looks promising, he says.

The cable between Norway and Germany has a total transmission capacity of 1,400 megawatts. This means that it can transmit a maximum of 12.2 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity between the two countries per year.

Statnett is also building an exchange cable to the UK. Norway already has, among other things, one power cable to the Netherlands, four power cables to Denmark and several transmission lines to Sweden.

Up to two billion euros

The connection to Germany is one of the longest power cables in the world at a total of 623 kilometers, and the cable ship started stretching the undersea part of the cable in August 2017.

According to the plan, the cable will cost between 1,500 and 2,000 million euros, that is, up to 21,000 million crowns at the current exchange rate of the euro.

– The first plans for the cable between Norway and Germany were made as early as the 90s. In 2013, we applied for a license for Nordlink, and the first construction work started in 2014, says Borgen.

– Now we have all the physical facilities in place, and yesterday there was electricity by cable. The plan is for the cable connection to be available for the electricity market in December and then we can start exchanging green energy between the two countries, says the executive vice president.

Must be operated with low capacity

However, some challenges have arisen in Germany, where a lot of new renewable energy has been installed in recent years, while the power grid has not followed to the same extent.

This means that the German authorities cannot guarantee that cable power will flow completely freely through the German grid.

Therefore, from the start in 2021, Nordlink will only have a guaranteed minimum capacity on the power grid on the German side of only 11.7 percent of total capacity. However, this will gradually increase until 2026, according to Statnett.

Starting in 2026, the guaranteed capacity on the German local grid that is critical for Nordlink’s power deliveries will be at least 70 percent of total capacity.

– We are fundamentally disappointed that the trough is so low, but unfortunately this is beyond Statnett’s control, Statnett Executive Vice President Gunnar G. Løvås said in a statement earlier this week.

However, this only applies to what the German authorities can guarantee, and the capacity may be higher. Occasionally, there will be no restrictions on transmission capacity, according to Statnett.

Scotland broken wire

Exchange connections abroad facilitate electricity trade. It can also contribute to greater security of supply in a period when many countries are developing a large amount of renewable energy that varies widely in production, such as solar and wind power.

But Norwegian players who depend on competitive electricity prices have warned against building too many cables. Both LO, Norsk Industri and aluminum producer Norsk Hydro fear higher electricity prices.

In March, the government refused to process the license application for a new power cable to Scotland, because it will first gain experience with the operation of German and British cable and the effect on energy prices in Norway.