German grid firm Amprion will boost investments in its transmission networks to 36.4 billion euros ($40 billion) in the five years including 2029, it said on Thursday, to make lines and cables fit for more renewable electricity transmission.
The sum represents a 32.4% increase from 27.5 billion euros in the previous rolling five-year plan to 2028 published last year.
“We are very well positioned with our financing strategy,” said chief executive Christoph Mueller, referring to a 850 million euro capital hike in late 2024 by shareholders, who include power utility RWE, and to what he called secure funding in 2025.
Amprion and three German sector peers operate within a regulatory framework for spending on upgrading power lines and equipment to reach wind and solar generation sites and transport their output to consumers.
It operates 11,000 kilometres (6,835 miles) of high-voltage lines stretching from the North Sea to the Alps.
The government wants Germany’s power sector to be 100% green by 2035.
The transmission system operators’ costs are mainly shouldered by consumers via grid usage fees overseen by the network regulator, which account for a quarter of retail energy bills, and via external finance.
Amprion last year posted a 25.1% rise in adjusted earnings before interest and taxes to 1.2 billion euros, it said.
Despite its financial strength, it warned that earnings structures needed to be improved by the regulator for the period after 2029, which will be reviewed and decided on this year.
Amprion said solar producers and power battery operators should be enlisted immediately to help make transmission more efficient in order to cut costs, echoing parts of a new coalition government deal.
RWE is looking into selling some or all of its Amprion stake, citing high capital costs.
