Dialogue

Together, the energy transition and the expansion of the power transmission grid amount to one of the biggest infrastructure projects ever undertaken in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. By safely operating and expanding our network in line with future requirements, we at Amprion are assuming our share of responsibility for guaranteeing a sustainable future for the nation’s power supply.
If the energy transition and grid expansion are to be a success, however, it’s going to take more than engineering know-how: social acceptance is just as important. That’s why we at Amprion seek a dialogue with citizens, social groups and organisations as well as with politics and business. We want to explain to you why new transmission links are needed and how they are planned, approved and built. And it’s important to us to converse with you, to listen to you, to get to know your ideas and suggestions and to involve you in the joint, “community” venture that the energy transition is.
Citizen participation at every stage
The grid expansion underway in Germany is a multi-stage project involving a great many stakeholders. From the grid development plan to the regional planning and planning approval procedures for specific projects, at every stage interested members of the public, authorities, associations and organisations can make themselves heard and present their own points of view and ideas. The legislators have made a point of stipulating and providing for this. And for us as a transmission system operator that is planning the new lines and will later be building them, it’s also very important. That’s because it will enable us to improve our plans and nip potential problems in the bud.
For this reason, we’ve developed formats and options that go beyond the legal requirements in order to inform you about our projects at an early stage and to involve you in the planning process: info markets, topic-specific exhibitions such as that explaining the pilot underground cable project in Raesfeld, or our online participation platform.
In 2015 alone, we organised more than 500 events to promote grid expansion in dialogue with you.