Compensations for municipalities

50Hertz financially compensates municipalities that are directly affected by the grid expansion for the resulting inconvenience. The conditions for these payments are determined in the Electricity Network Charges Ordinance (Stromnetzentgeltverordnung or StromNEV, §5(4)). In doing so, 50Hertz compensates the negative effects felt by citizens as a result of the transmission system's expansion that is required in the scope of the energy transition.

Municipalities through which new overhead line routes pass, carry a great burden for the success of the energy transition, for instance the impairment of the landscape, in the interest of the general public. The exact amount of the compensation offered to municipalities directly affected by the route of the line is based on objective criteria. Decisive factors are the number and the transfer capacities of the installed electrical circuits. An affected municipality can obtain no more than 40,000 € in compensations per kilometre of overhead line.

Model agreement lists criteria             

Details on the composition of the specific compensatory amount can be found in the model agreement 50Hertz uses to enter into an agreement with a specific municipality. This means that the amount of the compensation payment is not negotiated but derived from the objective conditions of the route across the municipal territory. 

Further information can be found in an FAQ which also clarifies that an agreement on compensation payments can only be made when the key planning decision has been made for the relevant line construction project. The agreement with the municipality enters into force when the line is commissioned. The contact for the municipalities is the relevant 50Hertz project manager. 

The wind bus bar between substations Görries near Schwerin and Geesthacht near Hamburg is the first line construction project where 50Hertz applied this approach. Compensation is possible for a total of 23 municipalities, whose territories are crossed by the 88 kilometre long overhead line. Whether such an agreement is actually made is, of course, the sole responsibility of the municipality.