Overview
- The tunnel drive between Wewelsfleth and Wischhafen was completed by the TBM known as Elsa, which finished roughly 5.2 kilometres of boring after about 18 months, a milestone celebrated on Monday, August 17, 2026.
- Operators TenneT and TransnetBW say the finished undercrossing will be prepared for cable pulling with work to begin around late 2027 and full project commissioning targeted for the end of 2028.
- Suedlink is a roughly 700-kilometre, fully underground north–south transmission link designed to carry up to 4 gigawatts of power, a capacity operators say could in theory supply about ten million single-family households if fully used.
- The project is a roughly €10 billion joint effort that uses twin largely parallel lines and complex tunnelling to avoid overhead pylons, but it faces long-running local opposition over environmental impact and fears that costs will fall to consumers.
- Beyond moving more wind power south and reducing curtailment in the north, the link must be integrated with other domestic and cross-border grid connections to deliver expected cost and climate benefits, and its payoff will depend on how fully the 4 GW capacity is used.