TenneT Germany Chief Warns of 350 GW Application Backlog as Data Centre Connections Surge
Germany's biggest grid operator says it cannot process connection requests fast enough, with a 350 GW backlog that experts say threatens the country's clean-energy targets.
Tim Meyer, chief executive of TenneT Germany, told Montel on Tuesday (2026-08-25) that his company is "completely overwhelmed" by grid connection requests from data centres and battery storage projects. Germany already holds 350 GW-worth of queued connection applications, the Economist reported — a total that far exceeds what the country's grid can physically accommodate.5,3
Connection bottlenecks have been building for years, but Meyer's public statement marks a shift in candour from Germany's largest transmission operator. Experts warned Montel that prioritising large solar farms over rooftop installations, while failing to expand the underlying grid in parallel, could put Germany's renewable energy goals at risk. Generation capacity without a grid connection adds nothing to the system.2
TenneT's capital commitments are not small. The group, which operates Germany's biggest transmission network and the Netherlands' sole grid, plans to spend €200bn on infrastructure by 2034, according to the Economist. But that programme addresses physical reinforcement. The administrative pile-up — hundreds of gigawatts of applications that each require technical assessment, negotiation and regulatory approval — does not dissolve because more cables get built downstream.3
The investment gap is shared across Europe. ENTSO-E, the European TSO regulator, estimates total spending needed to meet EU electrification goals at €800bn by 2050. Italy's Terna has earmarked €18bn for the 2024-28 period, and France's RTE has planned €100bn between 2025 and 2040. Even full execution of those programmes would leave a multi-year lag between financial commitment and projects reaching operational status.3
Germany's constrained grid is already changing how power moves across its borders. Norway, historically a net exporter of hydropower to continental Europe, was forecast in May (2026-05-21) to swing to a net importer from Germany through the second quarter. Katinka Bogaard of Volt Power Analytics told a Nordic Association of Electricity Traders conference that Norway was likely to import a net 0.6 TWh via the 1.4 GW Nordlink cable in the April-June period. That compared with a net export of 1.7 TWh over the same cable in the same quarter a year earlier.1
Two forces drove the projected shift. A large Norwegian hydropower deficit raised domestic power prices while rising solar generation in continental Europe suppressed German midday wholesale prices. The price spread made south-to-north flows commercially rational, and German solar surplus was moving north via Nordlink even as TenneT's domestic queue of unprocessed connection applications continued to grow.1,5
TenneT's group management had already framed the European situation in stark terms. At POLITICO's Energy and Climate Forum on Monday (2026-06-01), TenneT described the European grid as "a crisis in slow motion," E&E News reported. Meyer's remarks to Montel on Tuesday (2026-08-25) were shorter: the company is overwhelmed.4,5
With European solar output set to fall as daylight hours shorten into autumn, German surplus generation will diminish. If Norwegian hydro reservoirs stay under pressure into winter, Nordlink flows could revert toward their historical southward pattern, exporting Nordic power back into continental markets. How comfortably that reversal plays out depends partly on whether TenneT can begin clearing its application backlog. Meyer gave no timeline for when that might happen.1,5