The artery of Germany's energy revolution

South Germany needs the power, but wind production is in the north.

Germany’s dilemma: with some energy supply lines the construction is the easy part. Others seem to spend years in the planning phase and never get built at all.

So it is with Sued.Link, the electricity “autobahn” that is supposed to transport huge supplies of electricity from wind farms in north Germany to the industrial south.

Not without reason, Sued.Link has been described as “the main artery of the Energiewende.”

Back in the old days, energy was mainly produced where it was needed. 

Photo: Shuttestock

Coal-fired power stations in North-Rhine Westphalia powered the heavy industry and dense population centres of western Germany. The nuclear power stations of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg brought a reliable supply of energy to the factories of Ingolstadt, Munich and the Mittelstand-dominated region of Swabia.

After the Fukushima meltdown of 2011 though, Germany decided that its nuclear power stations also posed an imminent threat to life and limb. Angela Merkel reacted by announcing the cl…