Germany’s power-transmission companies have tabled plans to build four electricity Autobahns to link wind turbines off the north coast with manufacturing centres in the south – a boost for Angela Merkel after criticism from industry that Berlin has done little since announcing an accelerated nuclear phase-out a year ago.
Tennet, Amprion, 50 Hertz and Transnet BW said that building 3,800km high-voltage electricity lines – at a cost of around €20bn – over the next decade was possible if politicians and public rallied behind the so-called energy transformation.
Martin Fuchs, chief executive of Tennet TSO, the largest of the four companies, said he expected the lines to “provide the solid bedrock upon which the energy transformation can take place”, although he said this still required “a jolt” to pass through a society which in recent years has proved averse to network construction.
3,800km and 20 billion euros? What are these people smoking? And why won’t they share? Germany already has a major problem with “energy poverty”. Add the costs of this boondoggle to the average German’s electric bill and the country is bankrupt. Industry will run for the exits, and the German people will be freezing in the dark in the next winter.
Great plan, if you’re not a German.
That is 10 million US dollars per mile.