Cyril Widdershoven
Geopolitical disruptive thinker, focused on Commodities, Geopolitics, MENA and Security. Assessing investments, FDI, SWFs, Key-Stakeholders and power players in MENA, EastMed and Central Asia.
After years of integrating Dutch-German energy infrastructure, not only natural gas pipelines, but also power grid owners (TSOs), future investments needs are now seen as a major threat. The Dutch government has reported to the parliament that its Dutch TSO Tennet is looking to divest its German part in the next months. As stated by most parties involved, the possible buyer of the German part of Tennet will be the German government, but could also include prive parties.
Official analysis is clear about the reason behind this sudden move, the impact and results of the so-called Paris Climate Agreement, which forces signees to invest more in renewable energy production, especially wind and solar. While the latter is a positive development, especially looking at Climate Change, CO2 emission reduction targets, or even reaching Net-Zero 2050, it also entails a multibillion euros investment program in the existing and future power grid of the respective countries. Not only investments are needed to connect offshore wind parks to the grid, but the overall capacity, available volume or infrastructure on-land needs to be expanded.