Why exactly do we need to expand the grid?

Under the hashtag #NetzeJetzt, Minister Peter Altmaier has declared that he himself will take charge of this work. But why isn’t the existing grid sufficient - and what does this have to do with electric cars? You can find the answers in this video (German only).

The energy transition can only succeed if Germany has a modern electricity grid and new power lines. This is because the expansion of renewable energy makes higher demands of the grid.

The electricity grid is the backbone of Germany’s electricity supply. The growing proportion of electricity generated from renewable forms of energy like the wind and the sun places particularly great demands on the electricity grid. Instead of a few large power plants, more and more distributed wind and solar installations are generating electricity. It is already impossible to transport the wind energy from the north and east of the country to the major centres of consumption in the south and west at times when the grid is at risk of being overloaded. So we need to upgrade our electricity grid if we are to make a success of the energy transition. This video shows you what exactly we need to do.