BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Negotiations on the sale of the electricity grid of Dutch operator Tennet in Germany to the federal government have failed. Tennet announced on Thursday that the negotiations between Tennet Holding and the state-owned development bank KfW on behalf of the Federal Republic of Germany regarding a complete sale of Tennet Deutschland had ended without result. The German government had informed the Dutch state that it could not carry out the planned transaction due to budgetary problems.

Tennet is now looking for other sources of funding. According to the company, Tennet Holding is preparing to make use of public or private capital markets in order to find a structural financing solution for its German activities. The German government is prepared to support such alternative solutions.

In the meantime, Tennet is sticking to its extensive investment plans in both countries and is being supported by the Dutch government. The latter had recently granted Tennet a shareholder loan of 25 billion euros for the years 2024 and 2025.

Difficult negotiations are currently underway within the German government regarding a draft for the 2025 federal budget and medium-term financial planning in view of the billions of euros in shortfalls. Several departments do not want to adhere to the savings targets set by the Ministry of Finance.

High costs for grid expansion

The owner of Tennet's parent company is the Dutch state, for whom the costs of grid expansion in Germany have become too expensive. The company had therefore made public its desire for the federal government to take over its German transmission grid.

FDP energy politician Michael Kruse said: "The desire of the Dutch to withdraw from the German electricity grid is a clear alarm signal. If not even more democratic countries are prepared to invest in the grid in Germany under the current framework conditions, then that says a lot about the current investment climate in Germany and why it urgently needs an economic turnaround."

Tennet is one of four German transmission system operators. Tennet operates the grid in the largest of four zones in terms of area. The area stretches from the North Sea to the Austrian border. As part of the energy transition, thousands of kilometers of new power lines have to be built so that wind power, which is mainly produced in the north, can reach large consumption centers in the south. This will cost many billions. Tennet took over the German part of its grid from Eon in 2010 /hoe/DP/mis