OSLO: The first power cable interconnection between Norway and Germany will be in place by the end of 2019, a year later than originally planned, due to insufficient cable production capacities, Norway’s grid operator, Statnett said.
The link would enable Norway to import cheaper wind and solar power from Germany while storing energy in its water reservoirs, and export power to Germany when output from intermittent renewables drop there.
Norwegian and German grid companies and Germany’s development bank KfW made the final investment decision on Tuesday on the 1.5-2 billion-euro ($1.7-2.3 billion) project.
The interconnector will be finished in the fourth quarter, 2019, and after a trial period it will be in commercial operations in 2020,” said Christer Gilje, a spokesman at Statnett.
The original plan was to have the link in place in 2018.After negotiations with suppliers we found that there was not enough production capacities. There are not so many producers to provide this cable,” he added.
Gilje declined to comment further citing a 10-day standstill period for contracts with suppliers for the cable and converters.
