Hogan Lovell OffshoreBook 2023 230809 OnlinePDF - Flipbook - Page 119
Offshore Wind Worldwide 2023
5. GRID AND
GRID CONNECTION
According to the Offshore Wind Energy Act
(sec. 24), by way of the acceptance of the bid,
the successful bidder receives the entitlement (i) to get a physical connection of the
OWTGs with a particular GCS and (ii) to use
the connection capacity, both limited to the
amount of capacity accepted with the bid.
The GCS must be ready and the OWP connected to the onshore grid by the "binding
completion deadline" for the grid connection as determined in accordance with sec.
17d of the Energy Industry Act.
The Energy Industry Act provides the legal
framework for the operation of energy grids
and in particular of electricity grids, including the obligation to establish the grid connections for OWTGs by the relevant dates.
Under the current market structure, three
private TSOs, TenneT and Amprion (North
Sea) and 50Hertz (Baltic Sea) are responsible
for the financing, construction, and operation of all grid onshore connection systems.
Details of the obligation to construct and
operate the GCS are provided for in sec. 17d
et seqq. of the Energy Industry Act and the
Site Development Plan set up by the Federal
Maritime and Hydrographic Agency. Subject
to detailed procedures, the respective TSO
responsible for the connection has to publish an estimated completion date for the
grid connection. Such date becomes binding
30 month prior to the published completion
date.
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5.1 Responsibility for the cost of
the grid connection system
The TSOs, not the OWFs, are obliged to
finance and construct the GCS under the
Energy Industry Act. The TSOs are entitled
to reimbursement of these costs which are
ultimately included in an offshore grid (liability) levy to be paid by the end consumers.
Since 2019, the allocation has included not
only the additional costs arising from claims
for damages in case of delayed completion,
scheduled and unscheduled interruption
caused by maintenance or defect, but also
the entire costs for the construction of the
GCS.
5.2 Consequences of delays and disruptions of the grid connection system
Under the Energy Industry Act (sec. 17e), the
operator of an OWTG is protected
(a) against a delay in completion of the GCS;
(a) against the unavailability of the GCS the
due to failures; and
(a) against the unavailability of the GCS due
to maintenance works, further specified
as follows:
Delay in completion: In case the construction/completion of the GCS is delayed, the
operator of an OWTG is entitled to receive a
compensation in the amount of 90% of the
lost feed-in income as from the time when
the OWTG has reached the status of operational readiness, however at the earliest
as from the 91st day of delay against the
binding completion date.
