The DC transmission line, also known as the Compact Transmission Line for Direct-Current High Voltage (DC CTL), will be capable of transmit up to 5GW of power per system and will be installed underground.
Eastern Bavarian Technical University Regensburg, Berlin Technical University and Dresden University of Applied Sciences, and others, are working under the lead management of Siemens for the project.
Siemens is leading a team that comprises Berlin Technical University and Dresden University of Applied Sciences and others, for the project, which is backed by German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.
The DC CTL will be based on the existing gas-insulated transmission line (GIL) technology, which features two concentric aluminum tubes. A mixture of gases is used as the insulating medium.
The transmission grid expansion is necessary in Germany if its renewable power accounts to 80% of total power generation by 2050.
Siemens Energy Management Division gas-insulated transmission systems development head Denis Imamovic said: "The underground DC transmission line is of significance for Germany’s transition to a new energy mix because its development will initially take place in Germany.
"Later on, inquiries from other countries in the EU or elsewhere in the world would be quite possible. In any case, with development of the gas-insulated DC transmission line Germany will play a pioneering role in the design of future energy transmission systems."
Siemens said that the developing the grid using HVDC transmission technology with overhead power lines and underground gas-insulated DC transmission lines is expected to use considerably less resources than three-phase technology.
The system will also make power transmission routes cheaper and more environmentally compatible.
