Progress in grid expansion: Bundesnetzagentur approves last section of A Nord
Year of issue 2025
Date of issue 2025.04.15
The Bundesnetzagentur has today completed the planning approval procedure for the last section of the A Nord power line.
"We are making good progress with planning and approving our new major power lines. We have concluded the approval procedure for the first main corridor today. Construction work has already begun on some sections of the line. Today’s approval means that work can progress along the whole length of the line,"
said Klaus Müller, President of the Bundesnetzagentur.
The A Nord power line is one of the key projects for Germany’s energy transition. The new direct-current line is 305 kilometres long and runs from Emden (Lower Saxony) to Osterath (North Rhine-Westphalia). It will transport electricity generated by wind farms in the northwest of Germany and the North Sea to the consumption centres near the Rhine and Ruhr rivers in the west of the country. The A Nord power line is due to go into operation in 2027.
Last section approved
The Bundesnetzagentur has today decided on the route of the NDS3 section, which runs from the municipal boundary between Wietmarschen and Nordhorn to the federal state border between Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. Amprion, the transmission system operator responsible for the project, will lay the entire section of the line underground. The Bundesnetzagentur had approved an application for an early start to construction work on this section in January, enabling work to begin already. An approval for an early start to construction work, which is an instrument now laid down in law, provides greater flexibility overall during the construction of a power line, enabling certain work to begin even before a planning approval decision has been issued. This helps to speed up the nationwide grid expansion process.
The NDS3 section is about 30 kilometres long and starts at the boundary between Wietmarschen and Nordhorn. It first runs west, then south and crosses the B 213 road west of Klausheide. It passes underneath the Ems-Vechte canal east of Nordhorn and continues south. From the Feldkämpe area of Nordhorn the route runs southwest and passes under the Vechte river, the B 403 road and the (Gronau (Westf) to Coevorden) railway line. From the Am Birkenvenn area of Nordhorn the route runs south again, passing to the west of the Syen-Venn conservation area near the border between Germany and the Netherlands. The route then passes underneath the A 30 motorway and the (Amsterdam to Berlin) railway line and runs west of Bad Bentheim-Gildehaus. The NDS3 section ends east of the Gildehauser Venn conservation area at the border between Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia.
The Bundesnetzagentur is due to publish its planning approval decision (in German) on 28 April 2025 at www.netzausbau.de/vorhaben1-nds3.
Background to other sections
Today’s decision completes a seven-year process of planning and approving all the underground cabling sections of the A Nord power line project.
The NDS1 and NDS2 sections of the line in Lower Saxony will transport the electricity generated in northern Germany and run parallel to the DolWin4 and BorWin4 offshore transmission links for 101 kilometres until the two offshore transmission links change route near Wietmarschen and Geeste to Hanekenfähr. This means that only one construction site has to be set up to lay the underground cables.
The A Nord extra-high voltage line will have a transmission capacity of 2 gigawatts. This is the same as the demand from two million people. The underwater crossing underneath the Rhine near Rees in North Rhine-Westphalia is about 2,150 metres long.
Work on the first two sections in Lower Saxony between Emden Ost and the municipal boundary between Wietmarschen and Nordhorn began in the fourth quarter of 2023. The Bundesnetzagentur had given its approval for an early start to construction work in 2023. The three sections between the federal state border with North Rhine-Westphalia and Osterath were approved in 2024 and the first quarter of 2025.