Field of action: Secure power system
We are acting in the interest of the European energy transition and working to ensure system security while integrating renewable energy sources. To this end, we drive forward innovation and actively participate in industry collaborations. We are working to promote:
- Grid expansion and upgrade
- Grid and systems development
- System security
- European framework requirements
- Cooperation
Grid expansion and upgrade
Amprion is working on innovative solutions that will enable the energy world to transform and help advance climate protection efforts. In order to integrate the increasing volumes of renewables into the energy system, we are developing our grid infrastructure and pressing ahead with its restructuring within the scope of our legal mandate. Since we want to conserve resources and keep the impact of our expansion work as low as possible, we make our decisions in accordance with the NOVA principle laid down by legislators in the Energy Industry Act (EnWG): namely, “Netz-Optimierung vor -Verstärkung vor -Ausbau” (first grid optimisation, then grid upgrade, and only then grid expansion).
For example, we are now installing a new generation of conductor cables known as “high-temperature low-sag (HTLS) conductors”, which are capable of carrying more current.
We are deploying new technologies such as high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission systems to transport electricity efficiently over longer distances. These enable current flows to be better regulated, resulting in lower transmission losses over long distances.
OUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO ACLIMATE-NEUTRAL ENERGY SYSTEM
We …
- are expanding and upgrading our grid so that it can handle renewable energy sources
- are continuing to keep the grid stable in the face of changing conditions
- are driving forward sector coupling and integration so that we can plan the grid infrastructure as one complete system (“one system view”)
- are connecting renewables to our grid – onshore and offshore
- are transporting more and more electricity from renewable sources safely and reliably around Germany
- are continuously optimising our system operation and control systems and establishing new forecasting tools for the integration of renewables
- are transporting electricity over long distances from the generation centres to the consumption centres
- are playing our part in supplying electricity to the consumers in our grid area
- are integrating renewables into the energymarket
- are interconnecting energy markets in Germany and Europe
- are integrating renewable energy more and more into system operation and control
- are facilitating the coal phase-out and ongoing decarbonisation of theenergy system
Grid and systems development
The energy system is to be climate-neutral by 2050 at the latest. Amprion wants to play an active role in shaping this transformation. For instance, as part of comprehensive scenario analyses, we are examining what consequences the coal phase-out by 2030 or the locating of power-to-gas plants in Germany would have for the energy system. Working together with the gas network operator Open Grid Europe (OGE) on the “hybridge” project, we have drawn up a concept for a large-scale power-to-gas plant. We have been fostering technological innovations for years. This includes, for example, optimising our operating facilities and working independently on new environmental technologies. One such technical innovation, for example, is “weather-dependent operation of overhead lines”. This enables us to increase the load on our overhead lines under favourable weather conditions and to make our grid even more efficient and flexible in the process.
How to shape the energy system and achieve the goal of carbon neutrality is something that is extremely complex and cuts across all sectors. Answering this question demands an intensive, social discourse between all players involved. Through Systemvision 2050, Amprion offers a platform for this discourse.
System security
Night and day, engineers at Amprion’s System Operation and Control Centre in Brauweiler near Cologne monitor and control the current flows, voltage and frequency in the transmission grid. Switching measures or interventions in power plant schedules can be employed to control current flows. The generation of electricity from renewables fluctuates greatly depending on the weather. For this reason, Amprion utilises various forms of artificial intelligence in the operation and control centre to predict the amount of electricity that will be fed into the grid the next day. In addition, the System Operation and Control Centre performs overarching coordinating tasks not only for the four German control areas but also for northern Europe’s integrated grid. Through the Cross-Border Intraday (XBID) project, for example, we enable European market participants to engage in cross-border intraday electricity trading. As the energy transition advances, more and more electricity will flow through the cross-border grid and European congestion and frequency stability management will become increasingly important.
European framework requirements
Under the umbrella of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E), we are pushing for the installation of European framework conditions – together with 42 other transmission system operators from 35 countries. Amprion’s grid lies at the very heart of Europe and is consequently the hub of European electricity trading. We are upgrading and expanding our cross-border power lines – the “interconnectors” – to Austria, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland. One of them is, for example, ALEGrO, the first direct power link between Germany and Belgium.
We are working together with other European transmission system operators in regional system security cooperations, such as the TSO Security Cooperation, in order to better manage the increasing and at the same time fluctuating volumes of wind and solar power at European level. In order to achieve climate neutrality in Europe by 2050, Amprion is working with partners to implement the European Green Deal. Central to the plans is the development of a common European offshore infrastructure.
Cooperation
The complexity of the energy system demands close cooperation between a large number of players. Amprion is working with Distribution System Operators (DSOs) on solutions to better integrate distributed power producers into our system operation and control processes. This is also the subject of the Connect+ project in which distribution and transmission system operators have joined forces. Together with E.ON, Germany’s largest DSO, we are collaborating at the interface between the transmission and distribution grids to create an energy system that is both climate-friendly and fit for the future.
What is more, together with partners from the scientific community, we are working to develop innovative new solutions for the energy transition. We aim to complete a total of five cooperation projects with research institutions by 2024. Together with the Technical University of Kaiserslautern, we have already tested how restarting the grid with 100 per cent renewables can work. We have also successfully completed another project together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology (IEE) and the German Meteorological Service (DWD). And we are also participating in the InnoSys 2030 research project together with transmission and distribution system operators and manufacturers of control systems. In this case, field tests are being conducted to investigate how the available grid can transport even more power in future while maintaining at least the same level of system reliability. In other projects, we are studying the feed-in of solar energy, while we were also part of the EU-wide research project entitled “Migrate”, which was likewise investigating how best to integrate renewables.
