Progress in network expansion: Bundesnetzagentur approves another section of the Ultranet power line
Year of issue 2025
Date of issue 2025.01.31
The Bundesnetzagentur has today completed the planning approval procedure for another section of the Ultranet extra-high voltage power line. The section that has now been approved runs from the border between North-Rhine Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate to Koblenz. This is the fifth of a total of seven sections making up the planned extra-high voltage line from Osterath to Philippsburg. Today’s decision means Amprion GmbH, the transmission system operator responsible, now has approval for the construction and operation of this section of the power line.
Section between the federal state border and Koblenz
The route starts between Fritzdorf (North-Rhine Westphalia) and Grafschaft (Rhineland-Palatinate) within the municipality of Grafschaft and runs southeast past Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Sinzig, Bad Breisig and Andernach to Weißenthurm. It then runs east past Mülheim-Kärlich to Koblenz and ends at the grid connection point in Koblenz south of the River Rhine port.
The section is 44 kilometres long and interconnects Section E1 (from Rommerskirchen to the border between North-Rhine Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate) and Section D1 (from the Koblenz to the Marxheim grid connection point) of Project 2 in the Federal Requirements Plan Act. The Bundesnetzagentur is currently carrying out the approval processes for these two sections.
The Bundesnetzagentur will publish the planning approval decision (in German) on 10 February 2025 on its website at www.netzausbau.de/vorhaben2-e2.
The Bundesnetzagentur regularly updates the forecast on progress in electricity grid expansion and publishes the updates (in German) at www.netzausbau.de/prognose.
Background to the power line
Project 2 in the Federal Requirements Plan Act, otherwise known as the Ultranet project, is the joint responsibility of two transmission system operators, Amprion and TransnetBW. The power line is around 340 kilometres long and runs from Osterath in North Rhine-Westphalia to Philippsburg in Baden-Württemberg.
As far as possible Ultranet will be constructed along existing power line routes as a direct-current line. The power line will increase the transmission capacity from the windy regions in the north of Germany to the high-consumption state of Baden-Württemberg. It is due to be operational by the end of 2026.
Ultranet and the A-Nord power line, which it connects to at its northern end, together form the “A corridor” that runs from Emden to Philippsburg.