Project 37 - Norway - Germany, NordLink NordLink: a new HVDC connection between Southern Norway and Northern Germany.Estimated subsea cable length: 514km. Capacity: 1400 MW. Classification Mid-term Project Boundary Germany - Norway PCI label 1.8 Promoted by STATNETT;TENNET-DE Investments GTC Evolution Investment Contribution Substation Present Commissioning since Description Substation 2 Evolution Driver ID 1 Status Date TYNDP 2014 Nord.Link; a new HVDC connection between Southern Norway and Agreement between the Northern Germany. Tonstad Under Investment 142 100% Wilster (DE) 2020 two TSOs on Estimated subsea cable (NO) Construction on time length; 514km. commissioning date. Capacity; 1400 MW. Voltage uprating of existing 300 kV line Sauda/Saurdal - Lyse - Tonstad - Feda - 1&2, Feda - Kristiansand; Revised progress due to less flexible system Sauda-Samnanger in (Southern (Southern operations in a running long term. Voltage part of Under 406 100% part of 2020 Delayed system (voltage upgrade of upgrading of existing Norway) Construction Norway)(NO) existing lines). single circuit 400kV (NO) OHL Tonstad-Solhom- Commissioning date Arendal. Reactive expected 2019-2021. power devices in 400kV substat Additional Information Project Website; http://www.statnett.no/en/Projects/NORDLINK/ Investment needs A 514 km long subsea interconnector between Norway and Germany is planned to be realized in 2020. The main driver for the project is to integrate the hydro-based Norwegian system with the thermal/nuclear/wind-based Continental system. The interconnector will improve security of supply both in Norway in dry years and in Germany/Continental Europe in periods with negative power balance (low wind, high demand etc.). Additional the interconnector will be positive both for the European market integration, for facilitating renewable energy and also for preparing for a power system with lower CO2-emission. The interconnector is planned to be a 525 kV 1400 MW HVDC subsea interconnector between southern Norway (Tonstad) and northern Germany (Wilster). Market based capacity analysis performed in the TYNDP2016 show the need to increase the interconnection capacity between the Nordics and the Continental system. In the SEW/GTC-curve we can see that the increase from todays capacity to the 2030-level is having a large SEW-value for all the scenarios. This is also one of the reason for the NordLink between Norway and Germany being realised. At the same time there is a need for having attention to the assumptions of TYNDP 2016. Bringing CO2, oil , gas, coal-prices down to 2016-level will influence the SEW-values of projects like NordLink in a negative direction, i.e. the SEW values would be smaller than the ones identified for 2030. The CO2 price assumptions for 2030 are higher than the ones seen today. Bigger CO2 prices create larger marginal cost price differences between the different generation technologies Having a look at SEW/GTC-values of the different Visions indicates that the energy-balance of the different Visions both for the Nordics and Continental countries are the main driver for price differences and hence SEW-values. Eg. the Nordic surplus is very high in Vision 2, which gives a high price difference and hence high SEW/GTC-values. NordLink will increase the capacity between the Nordics and the Continent by 1400 MW. Project Cost Benefit Analysis This project has been assessed by ENTSO-E in line with the Cost Benefit Analysis methodology, approved by the EC in February 2015. The indicators B6/B7 reflect particular technical system aspects of projects based on a summation of qualitative performance indicators, in line with the CBA methodology; these cannot be used as a proxy for the security of supply indicator. The assessment of losses variations induced by the projects improved in the TYNDP 2016 compared to the TYNDP 2014 with a comprehensive all year round computations on a wide-area model capturing all relevant flows. The results must however be considered with caution and not totally reliable due to their very high sensitivity to assumptions regarding the detailed location of generation which are not secured. General CBA Indicators Delta GTC contribution (2020) [MW] DE-NO: 1400 NO-DE: 1400 Delta GTC contribution (2030) [MW] DE-NO: 1400 NO-DE: 1400 Capex Costs 2015 (M€) 1850 Source: Project Promoter Cost explanation S1 50-100km S2 Negligible or less than 15km B6 + B7 ++ Scenario specific CBA indicators EP2020 Vision 1 Vision 2 Vision 3 Vision 4 B1 SoS (MWh/yr) N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A B2 SEW (MEuros/yr) 110 ±20 100 ±10 100 ±20 120 ±10 70 ±10 B3 RES integration (GWh/yr) 100 ±20 220 ±170 <10 890 ±180 350 ±70 B4 Losses (GWh/yr) 350 ±35 350 ±35 350 ±35 350 ±35 350 ±35 B4 Losses (Meuros/yr) 15 ±1 19 ±2 16 ±2 21 ±2 23 ±3 B5 CO2 Emissions (kT/year) -400 ±80 ±100 -500 ±500 -700 ±100 -100 ±800 The pan-European analysis only take into account one average hydrological year. Studies by the Norwegian TSO Statnett shows that an important driver for the benefit of Norwegian interconnectors is the increased potential for power export from Norway during periods of excessive inflow. The benefit arises both from reducing the risk for hydropower curtailment and from avoiding price collapse in Norway during wet summers. The benefit is non-linear, which means that simulating over one average year is not equal to taking the average over several hydrological years. Internal studies indicates that SEW-values might double if also taking into account wet and dry years. This means that the benefit indicators calculated in the pan-European analysis probably are underestimated. Also the benefit of RES and CO2 (increased RES, decreased CO2) are expected to be under-estimated. Especially in wet years the RES-values will be much higher, this as the interconnectors helps exporting RES/hydro instead of having hydro- curtailment (water running directly to the sea). This also leads to decreased CO2-emissions if taking wet/dry years into account. Summarized the CBA-indicators for projects going to Norway for SEW, RES and CO2 are supposed to be underestimated in the pan-European models. Connections to the Nordics can bring potential balancing market benefits in the intraday market which has not been considered in the CBA analysis, the benefits are increased for markets with a lot of wind or hydro as the output can vary a lot from the forecasts. The project’s SEW accounts for saving in generation fuel and operating costs. The project could also enable savings avoiding investments in generation capacity, in particular for projects connecting electric peninsulas. The aspect has not been considered in the CBA methodology Complementary information about the border on Vision 1 Vision 2 Vision 3 Vision 4 which the project is located Average marginal cost difference in the reference case 18.46 10.75 10.88 8.11 [€/MWh] Standard deviation marginal cost difference in the 14.53 17.74 23.13 18.56 reference case [€/MWh] Reduction of marginal cost difference due to all mid-term -0.21 11.27 18.22 13.63 and long-term projects [€/MWh] .