TenneT wants to focus more intensively on innovations and the optimisation of existing high-voltage grids in addition to large-scale national and international grid expansions. The annual report also shows that the total availability of the high-voltage grids (security of supply) continued to remain high with 99.9988 percent in 2018.
TenneT reached a new milestone in Germany by bringing onshore nearly 17 terawatt hours of offshore wind energy in 2018. The total connection capacity of TenneT for offshore wind farms grew to 6,232MW. The BorWin3 and DolWin6 projects will be ready in 2019 and 2023, respectively, increasing the transport capacity for wind farms to more than 8,000MW.
The development of an offshore grid in the Dutch North Sea is progressing as planned. The jacket (sub structure) of the Borssele Alpha transformer platform has been installed at sea and the platform itself is currently in the final construction phase. Until 2023 TenneT will be constructing the offshore grid connections for the Borssele, Hollandse Kust Zuid and Hollandse Kust Noord wind energy zones, which together will provide a capacity of 3,500 MW.
TenneT has also been assigned by the Dutch government to connect the following phase of offshore wind energy to the Dutch high-voltage grid until 2030. This will result in an additional capacity of 6,100 MW. It is foreseen that the large IJmuiden Ver wind zone will be connected by TenneT by two DC connections instead of AC connections; each with a capacity of 2,000 MW.
TenneT’s 2018 underlying revenue of € 4,176 million increased with 6% compared to 2017, mainly due to higher reimbursements for grid expenses and additional revenue generated by a growing asset base. Underlying EBIT decreased from € 897 million in 2017 to € 806 million in 2018. Excluding special items, underlying EBIT increased by 10% to € 819 million in 2018. EBIT growth was mainly driven by the increase in our asset base, causing a higher return on capital reimbursement. Capex (investments) totalled € 2,253 million in 2018, of which € 876 million in the Netherlands and € 1,370 million in Germany. TenneT expects to invest approximately € 35 billion in the next 10 years, of which € 12 billion in the Netherlands and € 23 billion in Germany.
