Germany and Norway will henceforth share renewable energy sources (RES), helping each other on a commercial basis to equalize the load profiles of their power systems. This is the essence of the NordLink infrastructure project – laying a power cable with a total length of 623 kilometers along the bottom of the North Sea.
“Accumulator battery” for German renewable energy sources
This 1,400 megawatt (MW) submarine high-voltage DC transmission line has connected wind and solar farms in northern Germany with Norwegian hydroelectric power plants (HPPs). Its construction took five years and about 2 billion euros in investment. But now, according to the figurative expression of journalists, German renewable energy sources are connected to a large “storage battery”.
May 27, 2021. Video conference of the leaders of Norway and Germany, Solberg and Merkel, on the occasion of the launch of NordLink
The laying of the submarine cable, one of the longest in the world, was completed in the fall of 2020, then technical tests and operation of the line continued for several months, after which its commercial use began in April. However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg certainly wanted to take part in the official commissioning ceremony of NordLink, in order to highlight the importance of the project for the development of green energy in their countries and for the energy transition in Europe in general. …
The festive event took place on May 27 in a virtual format. It was attended by the ministers of economy of the two countries, as well as heads of companies-investors. These are state-owned electricity network operators Statnett from Norway and Tennet from the Netherlands (actively operating in Germany through a subsidiary), as well as the German state bank KfW.
The key problem of wind and solar energy and its solution
NordLink’s mission is to contribute to solving the key problem of wind and solar energy, which is highly dependent on weather conditions. The wind blows and the sun does not always shine at the very moment when electricity is especially in demand. As a result, wind turbines and solar panels are sometimes unable to meet the surging demand, or they are wasted. Technologies are needed that can temporarily accumulate surplus green electricity and thereby equalize the load schedules of the power system. In other words, energy storage devices are needed.
NordLink’s idea is to actually convert Norwegian hydroelectric power plants into storage. Norway is the largest producer of hydropower in Europe, along with Russia, which provides over 90% of the country’s electricity consumption and its export supplies. Most of the hydroelectric power plants are located in the south of the country.
And in northwestern Germany, where the Atlantic winds blow almost tirelessly, a growing number of wind farms operate on land and increasingly offshore, and solar panels are widely used. With strong winds, bright sun and temporarily low demand, these renewable energy sources generate surplus electricity.
Norwegian cable-laying vessel Nexans Skagerrak during work in the fjord
From now on, green electricity, which is extremely cheap at such moments, will be transferred via NordLink to Norway and used there in local networks, which will allow hydroelectric power plants to stop turbines and accumulate water in reservoirs. This is especially important during the dry and even more dry summer months, which are becoming more and more likely in the face of climate change.
In turn, during periods of high demand in the north-west of Germany, Norwegian hydroelectric power plants will “return” green electricity there and, if necessary, “add their own”. According to Tennet, the new submarine power cable can supply over 3.6 million households. This does not completely solve the problem of leveling production at renewable energy plants in the region, but it is part of the solution.
New business model for Norway instead of oil and gas exports
And Norway, a major supplier of oil and gas to Germany and other EU countries (which it itself is not part of), thanks to this project expands its opportunities for exporting green electricity to the EU. This will undoubtedly make it easier for it to phase out fossil fuels on the way to climate neutrality.
So, the Norwegian and Dutch power systems have been connected since 2008 by the NorNet submarine power cable, which was laid by the same companies Statnett and Tennet. Vast experience has been accumulated in the operation of the underwater transmission line between Norway and Denmark Cross-Skagerrak, which was commissioned back in 1977. Electricity can be supplied by land to neighboring Sweden, which is connected to a number of other EU countries along the bottom of the Baltic Sea.
This is how submarine power cables look in section.
In addition, this year it is expected to complete the laying of the world’s longest submarine power cable North Sea Network Link with a length of over 720 kilometers, which will connect Norway with England and will operate on the same principle as the new transmission line with Germany. So “taking storage” of green electricity from European countries is clearly becoming a new and promising business model for Norway.
A very symbolic detail. In Germany, NordLink ends in the town of Wilster in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein, about 10 kilometers from the Brokdorf nuclear power plant, which, as part of the German nuclear power phase-out program, will be shut down at the end of 2021 at the latest. Both energy facilities have virtually the same capacity: 1400 MW.
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