Webinar "Grid Expansion Planning"
In the framework of the Chilean-German Energy Partnership, on June 30th took place a webinar about the planification of transmission grids’ expansion. The invited German experts presented the planification processes from a federal level up to the decision making by transmission operators to the experts from the public and private sector in Chile. This exchange provided international experiences for the current long-term energy plans.
In Germany, in most of the federated states, the Länder, exist land zoning plans, both at Land and regional level, which were detailed in the webinar utilizing the example of Lower Saxony. Another important instrument of land zoning, besides plans and programs, are the territorial impact assessments.
This country has between 800 and 900 District System Operators (DSOs), which are often owned by the city where they operate, and four Transmission System Operators (TSOs), responsible of the operation and maintenance of the high voltage power lines. Every two years, the TSOs develop a scenario framework report, where they analyse possible energy futures. This report is then reviewed by the Bundesnetzagentur, according to Mr. Simon Schneider, representative of this agency.
Once the report has been approved, it is considered as a legally binding document, where the necessary parameters for the Grid Development Plan are defined.
The increase in energy demand implies a challenge for the existent transmission grid. First, to create the report’s possible scenarios, it is required to make assumptions about the current and future power plants, weather conditions, and fuel prices, among others, according to Mr. Sonnenschein, representative of the TSO 50Hertz Transmission GmbH, precising afterwards the decision-making process regarding the expansion of the existing transmission grids.
