wiredinUSA February 2020

Strengthening Italy’s grid

German wind powering ahead

Prysmian Group has signed two important power cable systems agreements with Terna, through its subsidiary Terna Rete Italia SpA. Under the first contract, Prysmian will be responsible for the development of an 150kV HVAC power cable link between the Zuel and Somprade substations in the province of Belluno, in northern Italy. Installation is expected to be completed within 2020, in anticipation of the 2021 Alpine World Ski championships in Cortina. The second award is for the development of a 150kV HVAC cable system to improve the performance and reliability of the power transmission system in southern Italy. The cables for both projects will be manufactured at Prysmian’s plants in Pignataro Maggiore (Italy) and Gron (France).

Photo by Bastiaan Lambrey on Unsplash

Transmission system operator TenneT has revealed that the output of German North Sea wind farms rose by 21 percent in 2019, higher than the country’s 2020 offshore wind capacity target of 6.5GW. At the end of 2019 Germany had 6.4GW of offshore wind operating in the North Sea, with a further 740MW in the Baltic Sea. Tennet added it has already built grid connections for 7.1GW in the North Sea. TenneT Germany’s MD, Tim Meyerjürgens, said: “With ... three further offshore grid links being built, we will provide 10GW in transmission capacity from the North Sea in Germany by 2025.” However, the German government is holding off further development, with no further tenders for wind at sea until 2021. It has announced its willingness to raise the 2030 offshore wind target for 2030 from 15GW to 20GW, but has yet to take any action. In 2019 TenneT transmitted 21.21TW hours of electricity from the North Sea to the German grid, which was 20.7 percent more than in 2018. Power from the North Sea was 16.6 percent of Germany’s overall wind output in 2019.

wiredInUSA - February 2020

32