Energieversorgung Offenbach (EVO) is building a 1.6 kilometer route from the Dettingen substation to the Seligenstadt substation. A total of three 110 kilovolt power lines will be laid there and two existing lines will be renewed.
Ostkreis – While EVO is laying further high-voltage lines from Dettingen in Lower Franconia to Seligenstadt with the help of a spectacular culvert under the Main, thus creating the conditions for the urgent capacity increase of the power grid, Amprion GmbH (Dortmund ) is taking on other tasks in the same profession: Amprion is one of four transmission system operators in Germany and transports electricity for 29 million people in an area from Lower Saxony to the Alps via high-voltage lines.
The core of a transmission system operator’s business is “to safely operate our 11,000 km long transmission network and expand it as needed”, as project number 66 states.
The project extends in the Offenbach district from the Urberach substation in the town of Rödermark via Dietzenbach, Rodgau and Seligenstadt to the Dettingen substation in Karlstein in the Aschaffenburg district and via Hainburg to the Großkrotzenburg substation in the Main-Kinzig district. According to the company, the approval and public participation process will begin in the spring of 2023 and work will begin in four to five years.
“To protect the landscape, we want to use an existing line about 24 kilometers long. By replacing the existing power poles with cables, that is, by replacing the existing cables with more powerful cables on the pole, we can achieve higher transmission capacity. This is urgently needed due to the growing demand for services in the Rhine-Main area”. A connection space that is currently still free is also occupied by an additional circuit.
The voltage level of 380 kilovolts remains the same. It is therefore not necessary to build a new line. “We will replace the conductors in the sections between the so-called tie rods.” It takes one to three weeks for each section. Protective scaffolding at all intersections with roads, highways or railway lines allows you to work on the line without hindering or endangering traffic. On the methodology: “First we will remove the spacers between the old conductors. We then fit the new insulators to all of the support posts. We supply cable drums with new lead wire for guy ropes. Replacing the old cable with the new one then takes place in one step: Our overhead line fitters connect both at one end so that the new cable can be pulled up and the old cable at the same time. Winches are used for this. The ropes are adjusted and held in tension by a rope brake at the drum. Once the cable pull is complete, we fit the insulators to the guy lines and remove the cable wheels to the support posts.
The project has been listed on the federal requirements plan since 2021, and according to Amprion, commissioning is scheduled for 2028. (by Michael Hofmann)
