Prestudy for the Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Federal Grid Concept

In 2012, commissioned by the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA), OECOS GmbH worked on identifying the potential environmental impact of high voltage overhead lines and high voltage cables. The report, “Environmental impacts of different network components: Environmental Report Part I” serves as the basis of chapter 4 of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA 2012) in which the Federal Network Agency sums up the expected impacts of the current network expansion and mitigation activities concerning human beings, fauna and the environment. It is structured according to the list of protected environmental factors specified in the German Environmental Impact Assessment Act. Our report is based on a comprehensive review of the literature. It describes in detail the potential impact of different network components during the construction and operational phases. In addition, we examined potential interactions between natural resources, looked at the benefits of combining projects and described recommended prevention and mitigation measures.