The transmission system operators (TSOs) submitted the draft of the Scenario Framework for the Network Development Plan Electricity (NDP) 2035 (2021) to the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) on 10 January 2020. The Federal Network Agency published the draft on 17 January and released it for public consultation. On 26 June 2020, the Federal Network Agency approved and published the Scenario Framework for the upcoming NDP 2035 (2021). This document is binding for the market and grid calculations of the TSOs in the NDP 2035 (2021).
On 29 January 2021, the TSOs published the first draft of the NDP 2035 (2021). After reviewing the content of the comments received during public consultation, the TSOs revised the first draft. The resulting second draft was published on 26 April 2021 and submitted to the Federal Network Agency. In the further process, the Federal Network Agency again put the second draft out for public consultation together with the environmental report from 9 August to 20 October 2021. Considering the results of this public and authority participation, the Federal Network Agency confirmed the NDP 2035 (2021) on 14 January 2022.
You can find German documents about the NDP 2035 (2021) below. The Network Development Plan Electricity 2035 (2021) is only available in German. For more detailed information, please see the German website.
Scenario Framework for NDP 2035 (2021)
The Scenario Framework assumes in all scenarios an increase in electricity consumption compared to today. This is due to the increasing electrification of the heat and transportation sectors and the expected introduction of power-to-X technologies. The decarbonisation measures in the industrial sector and the increased need for computation resulting from the digitalisation trend also contribute to this forecast. Moreover, all scenarios assume a phase-out of nuclear power by the end of 2022 and of coal by 2038 at the latest. Two scenarios even imply a phase-out of coal already by 2035.
The TSOs have identified the future regional distribution of electricity producers and consumers and the usage behaviour of electricity consumers as key factors influencing the demand for grid development. For this reason, the scenarios differentiated for the first time on the basis of dimensions of the degree of grid orientation and the degree of sector coupling / electrification.
Scenario Framework 2035 (2021) documents (in German)
NDP 2035 (2021)
1st draft
After approval of the Scenario Framework 2035 (2021) by the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) on 26 June 2020, the TSOs prepared on this basis the first draft of the Network Development Plan Electricity 2035, version 2021.
The TSOs published the first draft of the NDP 2035 (2021) on 29 January 2021. The public consultation took place between 29 January and 5 March 2021.
In this first draft of the Network Development Plan Electricity 2035, version 2021, the four German transmission system operators show the required grid expansion for the coming years. The NDP report does not describe any specific routes of transmission line; but documents the required transmission requirements between grid nodes. In other words, it defines the starting and ending points of future line connections and makes specific recommendations for the expansion and new construction of the transmission grids in Germany on land and sea in accordance with the detailed requirements in Section 12 EnWG (Energy Industry Act).
NDP 2035 (2021) first draft documents (in German)
NDP 2035 (2021)
2nd draft
In the context of the consultation on the first draft of the Network Development Plan Electricity 2035 (2021) from 29 January 2021 to 5 March 2021, a total of 3,293 comments were submitted to the transmission system operators. After detailed evaluation of the received comments, the TSOs revised the first draft. The resulting second draft was published and submitted to the Federal Network Agency on 26 April 2021.
NDP 2035 (2021) second draft documents (in German)
Confirmation of NDP 2035 (2021)
The Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) has released the second draft of the Network Development Plan Electricity (NDP) 2035 (version 2021), together with the draft of the environmental report of the Strategic Environmental Study, for public consultation from 9 August to 20 October 2021. In consideration of the results of the comments submitted by the general public and public agencies, the Federal Network Agency confirmed the NDP 2035 (2021) on 14 January 2022.
The confirmation of the NDP 2035 (2021) also includes subsequently submitted and modified projects that serve for securing the electricity supply in the target year of 2030. To ensure that these aspects can be transparently followed, the TSOs have published an updated version (February 2022) of the appendix to the second draft of the NDP 2035 (2021).
This has been supplemented with profiles that were submitted to the TSOs subsequent to the finalisation of the second draft. Changes to existing profiles are also included in this. In addition, the confirmation of the NDP 2035 (2021) by the Federal Network Agency, which took place on 14 January 2022, was indicated in the respective profiles and in some cases supplemented with explanations.
Confirmation of NDP 2035 (2021) and updated appendix (in German)
More about BNetzA confirmation (in German)
Learn more about the confirmation of the Network Development Plan on the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) website.
