German grid development plan: Netzentwicklungsplan (NEP)
As Germany works toward a climate-neutral energy system by 2045, planning the future of its electricity grid has never been more important. At the heart of this effort is the Network Development Plan (Netzentwicklungsplan, NEP) – a comprehensive strategy developed by Germany’s transmission system operators (TSOs) to ensure that the power grid can support the country’s ambitious energy transition
- The NEP is updated every two years and lays out how Germany’s electricity transmission infrastructure—onshore and offshore—needs to evolve. It is based on legal requirements set out in the German Energy Industry Act (§12a-d EnWG) and reflects political decisions such as the 2011 Bundestag ruling that accelerated the phase-out of nuclear energy.
- The latest edition (2023) of the Network Development Plan (Netzentwicklungsplan NEP) highlights how the grid must develop to integrate large volumes of renewable energy, accommodate new energy carriers like green hydrogen, and maintain secure and stable power supplies across Germany and beyond.
Modelling the scenarios using BID3:
To create an accurate and forward-looking grid plan, TSOs must build forecasts of how electricity will be produced, traded, and consumed under various future scenarios. This is where BID3 modelling comes in. BID3 shows how electricity markets across Europe would operate under different conditions—like sensitivities for renewable generation and their potential locations, flow-based cross-border transmission, or increasing electricity demand due to electrification of heat and transport.
BID3 has enabled the TSOs (TransnetBW and Amprion) to evaluate the economic and operational feasibility of different pathways toward a secure energy system, helping inform the grid expansion projects outlined in the Network Development Plan (Netzentwicklungsplan, NEP). From building new transmission lines and reinforcing existing ones to integrating offshore wind farms and preparing for hydrogen generation and transport, the NEP 2023 results with the modelling of BID3 has set the blueprint for how Germany will power its future.
Overview of BID3 (2019) can be found in this >> download BID3 (2019) overview [pdf] - external from German grid development plan website External link, opens in new window.. However, as the TSOs requirements evolved and landscape became more sophisticated, so too has BID3. Our team has continually developed BID3 to match the complex requirements of TransnetBW and Amprion for the studies. Below are some of the advanced and innovative modelling features developed and used in the Network Development Plan (Netzentwicklungsplan, NEP):
- Load loss sharing and quadratic objective: Options for temporal and geographical load loss sharing. Minimisation of load loss depth aims to reduce the maximum load loss in a price area in (half) a day. Load loss can be shared between price areas proportionally to either local margin or demand. The quadratic post optimisation enables a calculation to return a uniquely determined, balanced set of interconnector flows
- Price threshold (PTH) demand: altering the demand in response to the wholesale price. Therefore, increasing (or decreasing) the demand by a specified amount when the price falls below (or respectively exceeding) a given threshold. The demand can also be shifted either upward or downward to a specified level if the price delta between the two periods exceeds a given threshold
- Flow-based Market Coupling (FBMC): BID3 allows FBMC modelling as designed for coupling of electricity markets and cross-border transmission constraints under EUPHEMIA. The flow-based constraints arise from a mapping of the nodal grid constraints onto constraints on the net positions of bidding zones. This improved modelling of physical transmission allows more efficient use of the grid, which is beneficial for a high renewable future. In BID3, the user can define FBMC regions explicitly– one for the Nordics and one for the core Continent
