Investitionspflichten der Betreiber von Elektrizitätsübertragungsnetzen

The ambitious plan of German politics to shift from nuclear power and fossil fuels to renewables, the so-called ‘Energiewende’ (energy turnaround), significantly depends on whether the electricity from renewable resources can be transported from where it is produced to the main centres of consumption. For this purpose, the German legislator obliges the transmission system operators to expand the transmission system and, by imposing far-reaching obligations, to plan and build the new grid. This, however, touches on one of the basic elements of the fundamental right of entrepreneurial freedom – the right to choose an investment freely.
The study analyses the tension between the political will to transform the energy system in Germany and the limits set to it by the fundamental right of the freedom to conduct a business. The thesis focuses on energy and constitutional law.