Home » Business » Federal Administrative Court Confirms Legality of Preparatory Construction Measure for SuedLink Power Grid Expansion Project and Bundesliga of Legal Counsel

Federal Administrative Court Confirms Legality of Preparatory Construction Measure for SuedLink Power Grid Expansion Project and Bundesliga of Legal Counsel

The Federal Administrative Court has confirmed the legality of a preparatory construction measure for the SuedLink power grid expansion project (ref. 7 A 4.23). With its decision, the Leipzig court dismissed the lawsuit brought by an environmental association that was intended to prevent a planned converter plant in Bergrheinfeld, Bavaria, near Schweinfurt. Such systems are technically essential because they convert the direct current transmitted via underground cables into the alternating current that can be used on site.

According to the court, the plaintiff association, the Bergrheinfeld citizens’ initiative, had challenged the subject matter jurisdiction of the pollution control authority and primarily criticized the lack of an environmental impact assessment and a specific system design. With the partial approval that the government of Lower Franconia granted in February 2023, the authority committed itself to later approval decisions.

Rules for converter systems

However, the Federal Administrative Court dismissed the lawsuit and thereby answered some fundamental questions relating to the approval procedure for converter systems. The system in question also fulfills the function of a transformer station and is therefore subject to approval under emissions control law. But: “The approval could be granted without an environmental impact assessment. The law only provides for this for underground cables, but not for converter systems.” The material requirements for the issuance of a partial approval in accordance with Section 8 of the Federal Immission Control Act are also met: “There are no obstacles to approval under water law, species protection law, building law and pollution control law permitted construction measures still conflict with the future overall project. The converter system is a privileged outdoor area project and permitted under building planning law.”

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With the SuedLink project, Tennet and TransnetBW are building an underground cable for high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission with several gigawatts of power. This line is intended to transport wind and solar power from the north of Germany to the south. The project has an investment volume of around 10 billion euros and is considered one of the main arteries of the energy transition. The costs for the Bavarian converter plant to be built are estimated at around 500 million euros.

Wolfgang Baumann

Representative of the Bergrheinfeld citizens’ initiative
Baumann (Würzburg): Wolfgang Baumann (administrative law) – known from the market

Representative Tennet
Linklaters (Berlin): Prof. Dr. Markus Appel, Associates: Sebastian Meyn, Dr. Jens Weuthen (all environmental and planning law)

Markus Apple

Representative of the approval authority
Bavarian State Attorney’s Office, Margit Egner (Senior State Attorney)

Federal Administrative Court, 7th Senate
Prof. Dr. Andreas Korbmacher (Chairman), Dr. Achim Seidel

Background: The Würzburg lawyer Baumann is known as a plaintiff’s representative from numerous administrative law proceedings with environmental law issues. With Appel’s Berlin team, Linklaters has been advising and representing several of the major transmission system operators for many years. The clients include Tennet in the SuedLink (since 2013), SuedOstLink and NordOstLink projects as well as Amprion for the ‘Corridor B’. Tennet’s project partner TransnetBW mandated the law firm Redeker Sellner Dahs for SuedLink.

The Bavarian State Attorney’s Office describes itself as the state’s “law firm” before the Bavarian Administrative Court and the Federal Administrative Court. Senior State Attorney Egner is responsible for environmental, nature conservation and energy law issues.

New Senate at the Federal Administrative Court

The Federal Administrative Court did not act as an appellate court here, but had jurisdiction at first and last instance. Because of the aspects of emissions control law, it had placed the proceedings in the 7th Senate, in which Court President Korbmacher presides. A judge was called in from the 4th Senate, which specializes in construction and planning law matters. Since November 2023, there has been a so-called ‘Energy Senate’ in Leipzig, the 11th Senate, which takes on cases relating to the expansion of energy lines and the connection of hydrogen terminals. The chair is Prof. Dr. Christoph Külpmann.

The prerequisite for the citizens’ initiative’s lawsuit was its recognition as an environmental association under the Environmental Legal Remedies Act (UmwRG). The responsible Federal Environment Agency currently has 140 recognized associations. The Bergrheinfeld club was added to the relevant list in June 2023.

2024-02-08 23:49:21
#Tennet #defends #Linklaters #lawsuit #SuedLink #construction #project

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