Latest news with #Bundesnetzagentur
Reuters
23-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
German regulator plans to cut 1.5 billion euros of power grid fee costs
FRANKFURT, April 23 (Reuters) - Germany's energy grid regulator on Wednesday proposed to save power customers 1.5 billion euros ($1.71 billion) gradually over the three years from 2026 to 2028 by removing payments made to small conventional power generation units to stabilise supply. The fees were set up 25 years ago, when renewable power from wind and sunshine was in its infancy, to pay small electricity producers for feeding power locally into public distribution grids to keep them stable when more volatile green power supplies eased off. Conventional power describes more consistent sources, mainly fired with fossil fuels, than wind or solar, which can fluctuate with weather conditions. The regulator said the payments are no longer necessary because green power has now reached such high volumes that it no longer requires balancing at local low voltage levels. Instead, the volumes were being transmitted onto higher voltage lines over longer distances. These high voltage lines in turn provided increasingly more power at local level if renewable plants are unable to produce. Grids have become increasingly technically robust and digital over the past quarter century to accompany the increase of low-carbon energy sources. The fees under discussion "have become an unnecessary subsidy that cannot be economically justified", said the president of the Bundesnetzagentur authority, Klaus Mueller. The consultation period for the move runs to May 23. ($1 = 0.8787 euros)
Reuters
15-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
New north-south German power line seen in mid-2027
FRANKFURT, April 15 (Reuters) - Germany's energy grid regulator said that a new 300 kilometre power transmission line is expected to go into operation in mid-2027, having received approval on Tuesday as the authority seeks to support the transportation of low-carbon electricity to consumers. "The A-Nord line, from mid-2027 will bring northern wind power to North-Rhine Westphalia state," said Klaus Mueller, the head of the regulatory authority, Bundesnetzagentur, in a call with reporters. "We expect approval for a second line, Ultranet, to be given in the second half of 2025, showing the rightly expected network expansion will be sped up and turned into reality," he added, referring to a line going further south.
New European
01-04-2025
- Automotive
- New European
Germansplaining: Our embarrassing mobile network
Driving through Brandenburg we admired the grey herons and storks, the beech forests, the lakes and the legendary oak-lined avenues. We also lamented a few dead foxes whose journey hadn't gone quite as smoothly as ours. Eventually, we arrived at our very rural destination, where I put our VW Polo in park mode via the Free Now app. Last weekend, my sister and I had to make a family visit to the sparsely populated northern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It was a beautiful day, so we ditched the Autobahn for scenic country roads on our 2½-hour trip. Since I don't own a car in Berlin, I booked one via a car-sharing service. When it was time to leave, I tapped my phone to unlock the car. Nothing. The app was stuck on the loading screen, the spinner spinning. Free Now suddenly felt like anything but free. My mobile phone had lost its signal. My sister's, too, making us rather immobile. We were locked out in the land of no bars. Germany's mobile networks have long been a source of national embarrassment, despite the insistence of politicians and phone companies that things have improved since the first frequency auction in 2000. Back then, across Europe, governments cashed in by selling off the valuable UMTS spectrum. Or rather: some did, the UK and Germany among them. You could argue that frequencies – being a naturally scarce resource not created by the state in the first place – should be managed in a way to maximise accessibility, not treated as a cash cow. Yeah, well… In Germany, the auction winners paid a total of around 99bn deutsche marks (£42bn). Not much, considering the British Vodafone group had just taken over its German competitor Mannesmann for the equivalent of 360bn marks in the largest corporate acquisition in history. In hindsight, however, the amounts paid for licenses and takeovers had been too high and the stock prices nosedived, resulting in record losses (for the exchequer, too). Companies ran out of funds for actual network expansion. Other countries – the Netherlands, Finland, Spain, France and Austria – resisted the temptation of a windfall for the treasury. They held beauty contests instead of auctions, rewarding those who promised to invest in infrastructure (and usually favouring national providers over foreign competitors). In Germany, however, the term Funkloch – literally 'radio hole' – was born. To this day, many Germans are on a first-name basis with their local dead spot. When in office, Peter Altmaier, the former economy minister, admitted he asked his office to no longer 'put foreign ministerial colleagues through when I'm on the road because it's totally embarrassing when I have to call back three or four times because I get cut off all the time.' So why didn't his government do something about it? They tried: in 2018, the Bundesnetzagentur (Federal Network Agency) ordered operators to provide 99% household coverage. Mission accomplished? Not quite, the flaw in the plan was the keyword 'household' – not land area. While Deutsche Telekom now covers 99.6% of households with 4G and 98% with 5G, its land area coverage is at 92% for 4G and 84.4% for 5G. O2 and Vodafone? Even worse. This means tons of dead zones in sparsely populated areas, including along railways and roads. So, while boasting the most expensive mobile tariffs in the EU, Germany only has a mediocre ranking when it comes to network coverage. This should finally change. In theory. Last month, the Bundesnetzagentur, instead of forcing providers into another bidding war, extended existing licences for five years – with strings attached. By 2030, for instance, operators must provide 50 megabits per second across 99.5% of Germany's land area and minimum coverage will be required on all roads, not just on the Autobahn. How this will happen is a mystery. Will we be allowed to roam on to rival networks, like when you're abroad? Or will there finally be more masts? Given that installing a single cell tower can take more than two years in Germany – thanks to red tape and nimby lawsuits – don't hold your breath. As for our road trip? We begged the carers at the nursing home we visited to let me into their wifi. Standing by a window, I finally managed to unlock the VW and drive back to Berlin – where, fittingly, my own private Funkloch is in the living room.
Reuters
05-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
German regulator starts process for new power grid regulation
FRANKFURT, March 5 (Reuters) - Germany's energy watchdog Bundesnetzagentur is proposing introducing annual, cost-based rules for power grid operators under a regulatory revamp for the sector, it said on Wednesday. The country's power grid operators, including Amprion ( opens new tab, are hoping for improved funding conditions under the revamp to enable them to decide future spending plans as the regulator updates its framework of permitted returns on infrastructure spending this year. The regulator, which is supervised by the economy ministry, decides levels of permitted returns on infrastructure spending by the power grids in a fee-sharing system that relies mainly on consumers to back infrastructure spending via fees on power bills. It said in a statement on Wednesday it had started the process to decide on the regulatory framework, which could among other aims, replace the so-called incentive regulation. Industry has until April 18, 2025 to respond to the proposals within consultation proceedings. The regulator's consumer protection orientation has been criticised by the power grid operators who say their spending plans were constrained by the cap on their returns given they must invest 450 billion euros ($481 billion) by 2045 to bump up and digitise grids to mainly transport renewable power. Spending by hundreds of power distribution grids in coming decades, most notably market leader and European grid giant ( opens new tab, is also impacted by what costs are recognised under the regulation. Amprion, 25%-owned by RWE, said in a recent interview with Reuters that German power grid operators' current earnings levels could not keep up with international competition due to the cap on their returns on infrastructure spending. A simpler and more transparent system should allow for quicker flows of money to refinance the firms, the regulator said in a 15-page proposal paper referred to in the statement.
