Construction of the APG Germany Line in Full Swing

The Germany line is a joint project of the transmission system operators Austrian Power Grid AG (APG) and TenneT Germany. Running from APG’s St. Peter am Hart substation in Upper Austria to Altheim in Bavaria, the route includes approximately 2.5 kilometers on Austrian territory. The new line will link APG’s St. Peter grid node with TenneT Germany’s substations in Simbach, Ottenhofen, Isar and Pleinting. As a Project of Common Interest (PCI) at the European level, the line is planned to be commissioned in 2027. APG is investing around EUR 100 million in the line and in expanding the St. Peter substation.

Construction activities are currently in full swing. A total of eight pylons— including the largest, pylon 8, which weighs around 320 tons and stands about 78 meters tall—will be erected along the 2.5-kilometre stretch from St. Peter to the German border at the River Inn. The first pylons are already in place, and all eight are expected to be completed by the end of January 2026. Cable pulling up to the first pylon on German territory is scheduled for autumn 2026, with commissioning planned for the first half of 2027. In parallel, the St. Peter substation is being expanded. APG project manager Marc Kostner expressed satisfaction with the current progress: “We are right on schedule, which is not a matter of course given the often challenging ground conditions for the construction companies.”

Access to Low-Cost Electricity, Important for Security of Supply 

The Germany line will give Austrian customers significantly improved access to the German electricity market—and thus to low-cost power. It will also play a vital role in strengthening the security of supply and will facilitate an even greater exchange of renewable energy between Germany and Austria.

Existing grids in the region are operating at their limits. The two current 220-kV lines from St. Peter to Bavaria—built in the 1940s (Simbach/Altheim) and 1960s (Pirach/Pleinting)—will be dismantled once the new 380-kV line is commissioned. Their transmission capacities no longer meet today’s needs, resulting in exhausted line capacities and an increasing need for internationally coordinated, cost-intensive congestion management measures. Insufficient grid capacity also prevents low-priced German electricity from reaching Austrian consumers for significant periods of time.

“The new line from the St. Peter grid node to Germany is therefore an important prerequisite for a secure and successful energy transition. It connects renewable wind and hydropower—allowing clean wind energy from northern Europe to be routed to the storage power plants in the Alps,” explains Kostner.

The Germany line is part of APG’s nationwide investment program, which foresees around EUR 9 billion in grid expansion and conversion by 2034. It is also included in the grid development plan approved by E-Control in November 2023. An overview of APG’s main investment projects is available at www.netzentwicklungsplan.at.

About Austrian Power Grid (APG)

As independent transmission system operator Austrian Power Grid (APG) is in charge of ensuring the security of the electricity supply in Austria. With our high-performance and digital electricity infrastructure and the use of state-of-the-art technologies we integrate renewable energies and reduce the dependency on electricity imports, we are the platform for the electricity market, and we provide access to reasonably priced electricity and thus create the basis for Austria as supply-secure and future-oriented industrial and business location and place to live. The APG grid totals a length of about 3,500 km and is operated, maintained, and continuously adapted to the increasing challenges of the electrification of businesses, industry, and society by a team of approximately 1,000 specialists. 67 substations are distributed all over Austria and the majority is operated remotely from the control center in Vienna. Thanks to our committed employees Austria had a security of supply of 99.99 percent also in 2024 and thus ranks among the top countries worldwide. Our investments of 630 million euros in 2025 (2024: 440 million euros, 2023: 490 million euros) are a motor for the Austrian economy and a crucial factor for a secure energy transition. Overall APG will invest around 9 billion euros in grid expansion and modernization measures until 2034.