Minority stake in TransnetBW to be sold to a consortium
German corporation EnBW has announced the sale of a 25% stake in high-voltage grid operator TransnetBW. The deal is worth €1 billion. The minority shareholding will be in the hands of a consortium under the leadership of Sparkassen Versicherung. The valuation of this TransnetBW stake is around €4 billion, which is a good figure given the regular rise in interest rates. Overall, experts note that electricity networks remain an attractive sector for investors. The consortium of buyers consists of more than 30 financial institutions, insurance companies and other companies.
In 2022, TransnetBW, a subsidiary of EnBW, announced plans to sell some of its shares. The company will remain the majority shareholder. The operator serves 34.6 square kilometres of electricity networks in Baden-Württemberg and ranks fourth in Germany in terms of capacity. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval. According to EnBW, the proceeds from the sale will be used to develop the Energiewende project. The latter includes the expansion of the use of renewable energy sources for power generation.
The Grid Booster project
In November 2022, TransnetBW began construction of a new 250 MW energy storage facility. The Grid Booster project is being implemented in partnership with Fluence Energy, which develops technology and software solutions for the renewable and energy sectors in general. The facility is in Kupferzell, an important centre of the country’s energy system. According to TransnetBW’s plans, Grid Booster will increase the efficiency of the grid’s transmission infrastructure and reduce the need for mandatory preventive maintenance during operation. In addition, the project will help to scale up renewable energy production by rapidly integrating its plants into the overall ecosystem.
Currently, the weakness of TransnetBW’s transmission network is the difficulty in transporting large amounts of green power from northern Germany to the south. The Grid Booster will make it possible to respond quickly to a failure in the overall system and provide the necessary power from reserves. This will allow the infrastructure to function fully.
The Grid Booster project was first mentioned in 2019 as one of the milestones of the German Energy System Development Strategy, which will be in place by 2030. Grid Booster is due to be in operation by 2025.
Parent company EnBW is also expanding its presence in the renewables sector. In May 2023, it announced an investment in the Rudolf Fettweis hydropower plant. The plan is to modernise the plant to increase production capacity. The total cost of the work amounts to an estimated €280 million.
