The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing a €500m corporate loan to TenneT, a power transmission network operator in Germany and the Netherlands. The funds are being made available in connection with the construction and operation of three offshore high voltage direct current (HVDC) lines that will connect wind farms in the North Sea with the German onshore electricity network. The project planned by TenneT and now being co-financed by the EIB comprises the high-voltage DC lines HelWin1, SylWin1 and DolWin1 connecting offshore wind turbines with a capacity of up to 2.2 GW to the grid. TenneT is building and will operate HVDC converter stations of this size for the transmission of high-voltage direct current at sea. Because of its dimension and technical requirements, these projects will be of an exemplary nature not only in Germany but worldwide. Construction has already begun and is expected to be completed in 2014 and 2015.
As part of the energy transition (Energiewende), Germany is focusing on the expansion of offshore wind energy with the aim of the new German coalition partners to reach installed generation capacity of 6.5 GW in 2020. A total of 6.2 GW connection capacity is already installed by TenneT or currently under construction.