GridConnect: First projects successfully delivered!

What do a solar farm and a wind farm have in common? That's right, they need a network connection (NVP).

A solar park developer and a wind farm operator have now found each other via dvlp.energy's GridConnect platform. The NVP originally assigned by the grid operator for the solar park was too far away. The wind farm is closer and its operator is interested in reducing its operating costs by expanding the existing NVP.

In another example, a DVLP user was assigned an NVP at the high-voltage level, for which the project area was insufficient. With the help of GridConnect, another developer has now found himself who is developing areas just a few hundred meters away. Together, the grid connection can now be implemented economically.

These are two examples of the partnerships found as part of the current GridConnect pilot phase. Of the almost 30,000 projects created in the dvlp Web-GIS platform, around 300 have already been registered for GridConnect. Of these, around 30% of the projects were able to suggest a possible partner project less than 20 km away. The associated project developers are now exploring collaboration based on project stages and specific NVPs.

Our blog post from February 2025 provides a detailed description of GridConnect.

The joint use of grid connection points by various energy generation plants is a key to the further expansion of renewable energy with increasingly limited network infrastructure. Through network connections implemented in partnership, investment costs can be reduced and planning times shortened.

With the amendment to the Energy Industry Act at the beginning of 2025, the legal framework for the development of grid connection points was created. This further increases the savings potential and provides additional options for connecting new generation plants or storage facilities (e.g. by using privately operated transfer stations). The newly formulated §8 EEG regulates the drafting of contracts with the network operator through so-called flexible grid connection agreements. These can be designed statically (the system must not feed in with nominal power at any time) or dynamically (the system cannot feed in with nominal power only at peak load times).

From May 1, 2025, the distribution system operator N-Energie will be the first to offer dynamic grid connection agreements to connect further generation plants to the already heavily loaded power grid. From May, the superstructure is to be tested as standard during the technical network connection test and offered to the subscriber. In order to meet the requirements for a flexible grid connection, photovoltaic systems must also be combined with a battery storage system, planned in an east-west orientation or designed for pure self-consumption.

Similar models are currently being developed by many other network operators.