50HERTZ: The Grid Behind the Green Shift
With headquarters in Berlin, 50Hertz operates the electricity transmission system in the northern and eastern regions of Germany. With a pivotal role in ensuring the reliable supply of electricity to millions of people, 50Hertz is responsible for an extra-high-voltage grid with an electrical circuit length of more than 10,000 km, which continues to expand as required as the company drives Germany’s transition to a renewable energy future.
Supported by:
One of Germany’s four primary electricity transmission system operators (TSOs), the 50Hertz control area covers Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, as well as the city states of Berlin and Hamburg, with its primary business consisting of transmitting electricity over longer and wider distances through an extensive extra-high-voltage grid.
Unlike distribution network operators delivering power to end consumers, transmission system operators such as 50Hertz are responsible for moving bulk power between power plants, large consumers and interconnection points with neighbouring countries; this subsequently ensures stability and balance between electricity supply and demand across its region.
Operating and maintaining a grid of more than 10,000 km of high-voltage lines, or, to put it into perspective, roughly the distance from Berlin to Rio de Janeiro, 50Hertz and its more than 2,300 employees are entrusted with the crucial responsibility of ensuring that 18 million people are supplied with electricity around the clock.
TAPPING BALTIC POTENTIAL
“Our vision,” the company makes clear, “is a successful energy transition, for a sustainable world.” Germany’s ambitious goal to transform its energy system – the ‘Energiewende’ – requires massive expansion and modernisation of transmission infrastructure, and as a TSO 50Hertz is truly at the core of these efforts, enabling the secure connection of renewable energy sources like wind and solar to the broader grid.
“50Hertz is a forerunner in the field of secure integration of renewable energy,” the company says. “In our grid area, we want to integrate 100% renewable energies securely into the grid and system by 2032.
“But the energy transition will not just happen by itself,” the company admits. “It is only possible if we actively work towards it, maintain a dialogue with all the players involved to openly discuss the challenges of grid expansion and offer a reliable infrastructure that reacts flexibly to fluctuations in supply and demand.
“Then we can look forward to a successful energy transition for a sustainable world.”
The installation at the end of last year of the Jasmund offshore platform in the sea off Rügen, Germany’s largest island, put 50Hertz’s Ostwind 3 grid connection project firmly on the home stretch. It is poised to collect 300MW from the Windanker wind farm from October, transform it to 220KV and then transmit the electricity via a submarine land cable connection to the under-construction Stilow substation.
“After Ostwind 1 and 2, Ostwind 3 is the next project in the sea area northeast of Rügen, which we will complete on time and within budget,” explained Stefan Kapferer, Chairman of the Management Board of 50Hertz. “Overall, 50Hertz is making a significant contribution to reliably tapping the great wind energy potential of the Baltic Sea – in German waters, but also beyond in cooperation with Energinet from Denmark and, in the future, with other partners in the Baltic region.”
One such key industry ally within 50Hertz’s comprehensive supply chain of high-quality companies is Njord Survey, providing geophysical and Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) seabed survey services for offshore wind projects.
With its plans for the Rostock Offshore Quartier (ROQ), 50Hertz is constructing a new operating site in Warnemünde positioned in the immediate vicinity of the open sea and is the ideal location for the operation of the electrotechnical facilities on the Baltic Sea. On a site area of 25,000m2, modern offices, workshops and storage areas are to be built directly on the quayside in the immediate vicinity of the naval arsenal and the Neptun shipyard.
“The Rostock Offshore Quarter will be our gateway to the Baltic Sea,” described Dr Dirk Biermann, 50Hertz COO. “We are building an ensemble of buildings here which fulfils various functions and at the same time is architecturally sophisticated, both outside and inside.
“The ROQ is an important cornerstone for the future maritime business park at this location.”
GREEN LOAN
Securing crucial, green, funding to facilitate its ambitious infrastructure agenda, 50Hertz’s parent company Eurogrid has pledged 850 million euros, provided by ten banks under the KfW program Climate Protection Initiative for Companies, for the expansion and construction of substations. These investments are critical for the requisite expansion of the power grid to allow for the implementation of the energy transition and the integration of renewable energies in Germany.
The funding will be deployed in the expansion, construction and modernisation of high-performance substations in the 50Hertz grid area, equipping them with new technologies to ensure grid and system stability. New and extended substations, as important nodes in the network, are necessary in order to integrate the increasing proportion of wind and solar energy into the transmission grid optimally and safely.
These bonds, too, underscore investor confidence in the company’s role as a facilitator of renewable integration and climate goals.
In total, almost four billion euros were raised for investments in the expansion of the transmission grid infrastructure in 2025. “With this additional ‘green’ KfW-backed syndicated financing, arranged by Deutsche Industriebank IKB, we are continuing our successful strategy to invest specifically in sustainable infrastructure that makes a tangible contribution to security of supply and the transformation of the energy system,” remarked 50Hertz CFO Christine Janssen.
“We thank our financial partners for their trust and are pleased to partner with KfW and our banking consortium to help secure the future of energy supply.”