On 20 October 2025, the Prime Minister of Thuringia, Prof. Mario Voigt, and the CEO of 50Hertz, Stefan Kapferer, ceremoniously put the 105-kilometre-long 380 kV overhead line Pulgar – Vieselbach into operation. This means that an important project from the Federal Requirements Plan Act has been officially connected to the grid on time.
The aim of the grid reinforcement is to increase transmission capacity, as the existing line can no longer cope with the changes in electricity flows in the course of the energy transition. In order to make the electricity from renewable energies increasingly generated in the north and east available to all consumers in Germany, the power-carrying capacity of the former heavily utilised 380 kV overhead line will be increased by up to 40%. When the new overhead line goes into operation, the existing line, which is around 105 kilometres long, will be dismantled.
The need for the measure was confirmed for the first time by the Federal Network Agency in the 2012 Network Development Plan. The legal basis for the project, which is listed as Project 13, is the Federal Requirements Plan Act.
An introduction to the project can be found in the project flyer. For up-to-date information on the planning status, please refer to the "Status" section further down on this page.