Complaints about Bundesnetzagentur's planning approval decision dismissed
Year of issue 2024
Date of issue 2024.06.13
The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig has for the first time ruled in an action brought against a planning approval decision of the Bundesnetzagentur and has dismissed the case.
"We are pleased that our decision on the electricity grid expansion has held up in court. At the same time the Court has settled some important aspects for future Bundesnetzagentur planning procedures. This is good news for the accelerated expansion of the electricity grid,"
said Klaus Müller, President of the Bundesnetzagentur.
Two municipalities in Hessen had filed a complaint against the adopted planning approval for section A1 of power line project no 2 of the Federal Requirements Plan Act (Ultranet).
The complainants had listed numerous reasons why the planning approval decision was unlawful. For instance, the complainants were of the opinion that there was no justification for the planning under the Federal Requirements Plan Act and there were infringements of the mandatory immision controls legislation. In addition, the municipality's planning autonomy and the civil property rights of the municipalities were not taken into account appropriately. They also considered the assessment of alternatives to be flawed. The Federal Administrative Court did not come to the same conclusion. This ruling is final and absolute.
Ultranet is a direct current line from Osterath in North Rhine-Westphalia to Philippsburg in Baden-Württemberg planned by the transmission system operators Amprion GmbH and Transnet BW GmbH. The matter in dispute in the present case was Section A1 from Ried to Wallstadt.