Germany and Norway inaugurate the project of an undersea power exchange cable

Germany and Norway on May 27 inaugurated NordLink – an undersea electric cable built to facilitate the exchange of renewable energy, in the context of Europe’s largest economy gradually phasing out. abandon coal and nuclear power in the coming years.

Germany and Norway inaugurated the NordLink undersea cable line. Photo: DW With a total length of 623 km, NordLink is one of the longest undersea cables in the world, connecting the town of Tonstad in southern Norway to the mouth of the Elbe river in northern Germany. This cable route helps to exchange wind and solar energy produced in Germany for hydroelectric power produced in Norway, helping the two countries make up for the shortfall in electricity production due to fluctuations in the amount of wind and sun. The project is expected to help provide electricity for about 3.6 million households, which has been in operation since April, but officially opened on May 27. According to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the project is really a big step towards a sustainable and future-friendly energy supply for Germany. The project also helps to balance electricity production, which is an important part of the country’s growing efforts to expand renewable energy sources. Thorsten Lenck of the Agora Energy Transition research organization considers the NordLink project an important step in Germany’s energy transition and integration into the European power system. According to the plan, Germany will gradually phase out nuclear power by 2022 and coal power by 2038. Recently, Germany has also set many ambitious targets to reduce CO2 emissions after the Constitutional Court – a court Supreme Court in Germany, ruled that the current climate protection law was “not enough”, demanding an amendment to the law. With ambitious targets, the German government plans to cut emissions by 65% ​​by 2030 compared with 1990 levels, further than the 55% reduction target set earlier. The reduction will then reach 88% by 2040, with the goal of making Germany carbon neutral by 2045, five years earlier than originally planned. For the first time ever, renewables in Germany will account for half of electricity production, compared with 25% less than 10 years ago, data from the Fraunhofer Research Institute shows. Interaction and exchange between different countries is also one of the pillars of the European Union’s climate strategy. To date, a number of cross-border projects have been operating between Norway and the Netherlands; Netherlands and Great Britain; Denmark and the Netherlands.