Latest news with #KlausMueller
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.
