The modernized southern substation of Stromnetz Hamburg GmbH has officially gone into operation after a five-year construction period and costs of around 40 million euros. As Stromnetz Hamburg announced on Friday, the southern connection is one of the starting points for the distribution of electricity for more than a third of Hamburg’s customers in the industrial, commercial and household sectors.

According to the information, the substation had to be modernized because the switchgear on Waltershofer Straße, which dates from 1969, had reached its maximum useful life. Due to the growth of the industry, the development in the port, the increasing electric mobility and the increasing number of decentralized feeders, the requirements have also increased steadily.

“With this complete conversion, we have now brought the primary and secondary technology and all ancillary systems to the latest state of the art in our largest network node and are therefore well prepared for the expected increase in load,” said Stromnetz Hamburg Managing Director Thomas Volk.

Environment Senator and Chairman of the Supervisory Board Jens Kerstan (Greens) emphasized that the energy supply must be freed from its dependence on fossil fuels much more quickly due to climate protection and security of supply. “This results in additional pressure to achieve ambitious climate goals more quickly and to accelerate the energy transition,” he said, referring to the restructuring of the 110-kilovolt network node.