Stuttgart. Work on the second section of the power line Suedlink in Baden-Württemberg can begin. The next planning approval decision for the section in the north of the state has been received from the Federal Network Agency, the transmission system operator Transnet BW in Stuttgart announced. This means that building permission now exists for all sections of the power line in Baden-Württemberg.
The section that has now been approved is around 80 kilometers long and runs from the state border with Bavaria near Großrinderfeld in the Main-Tauber district to Bad Friedrichshall in the Heilbronn district. The second section of the route, which runs from Bad Friedrichshall to the end point in Leingarten-Großgartach near Heilbronn, is already under construction. A large part of the cables will be laid underground.
Prime Minister attends official start of construction
According to the EnBW subsidiary, construction work on the northern section of the route is scheduled to start on September 27. Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) is also expected to attend the official start of construction in the far northeast of Baden-Württemberg.
The civil engineering work was awarded following a Europe-wide tender. Leonhard Weiss, with headquarters in Göppingen, is responsible for the northern part, and Max Bögl from Sengenthal in Bavaria is responsible for the southern part. According to Transnet BW, the construction work will generally be carried out one after the other in the coming months, but will also sometimes be carried out in parallel.
Most sections will be laid in open trenches
The majority of the power line will be laid in open cable trenches, which will then be filled in again. Only when crossing obstacles such as roads or bodies of water will the work be carried out in a closed construction method, i.e. completely underground.
The approximately 700-kilometer-long route, which runs from Brunsbüttel in Schleswig-Holstein to Leingarten-Großgartach near Heilbronn, is considered one of the largest infrastructure projects of the energy transition in Germany. The costs are currently estimated at around ten billion euros.
