Under the new plan, the company will make significant investments in expanding cross-border interconnections between the Netherlands, Germany and other countries to bring flexibility to European grid.

In the Netherlands, the planned investments will be related to grid expansions and an extensive maintenance and replacement programme for the existing grid infrastructure, among other projects.

Some of the main projects under this plan will include the offshore grid (3.5GW), Randstad 380kV North Ring, South-West 380kV, North-West 380kV, the upgrade of the national 380kV ring, the Doetinchem-Wesel interconnector and the COBRAcable.

While the construction of two new offshore interconnectors the NordLink subsea high-voltage cable between Germany and Norway, and the COBRAcable between the Netherlands and Denmark is already underway, the COBRAcable is scheduled for completion in 2019, and the NordLink project is expected to be ready in 2020, the company said.

The Dutch-Belgian transmission capacity is expected to be more than doubled by 2022.

TenneT said:"The German government has pledged to move to a decarbonized economy by the middle of the century, and has set a target of at least 80% renewables for gross power consumption by 2050. There are similar developments in the Netherlands, as the government is committed to the accelerated decommissioning of existing coal-fired power plants by 2030 at the latest.

"All this means that TenneT’s work to develop a grid that can accommodate even larger quantities of renewable energy is more important than ever." 

The company expects scope for further expansion of wind energy capacity in the Dutch sector of the North Sea in the medium term.

It said: "A capacity increase of approx. 7,000 MW is possible during the 2023-2030 period, divided across different zones off the west coast of the Netherlands and north of the Wadden Sea Islands." 

Currently, TenneT has 10 offshore grid connections operational in the German sector of the North Sea that include three AC and seven DC connections. 

Image: TenneT to invest heavily in grid operations in the coming years. Photo: Courtesy of TenneT Holding B.V.