* TenneT wants partners for one or more wind farm cables
* Offshore to mainland cables cost 900 million euros each
By Vera Eckert
BERLIN, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Dutch power grid firm TenneT will hold talks with potential investors to fund ambitious network expansion projects onshore and off the North Sea coast, Chief Executive Mel Kroon said during a Berlin conference.
The unlisted Dutch company, which bought E.ON's German high voltage grid, needs to collect infrastructure capital for the new links.
"In the first half of this year we will have discussions with potential investors to see where their risk rewards ideas are," Kroon said in an interview on Wednesday.
"We will be seeking direct funding, through company bonds or direct investments into specific connections," he added.
In this round of discussions, TenneT is seeking investors for one or more offshore wind cable connections costing 900 million euros ($1.2 billion) each and may invite partners into existing projects currently financed by TenneT, he said.
State-owned TenneT plans to invest 5 billion euros in German networks and 4 billion in those in the Netherlands over the next 10 years.
TenneT has been operating the 700 km NorNed 1 cable between Norway and the Netherlands since May 2008, which helps Norway export surpluses of hydropower in wet years, and imports of European thermal power to ease shortfalls in dry years.
OFFSHORE EXPERTISE
"We have taken steps to move the Netherlands from the edge of Europe to becoming a power hub with links to Norway, England and Germany," Kroon said.
He said he expected the contract release for a seventh offshore wind park connection, called Sylwin, in Germany next week, which would bring Tennet's installed offshore power transmission capacity to more than 3,000 megawatts (MW).
A 1,000 MW interconnector cable with Britain, called BritNed, will be launched on April 1 and complement NorNed 1, the 700 MW cable TenneT runs between the Netherlands and Norway.
Future projects are a NorNed 2 cable on that same route, Cobra, a Danish-Dutch connection, and Nord.Link, another one to link the Netherlands and Germany.
Apart from country-to-country interconnectors, which essentially help create a single European power market, huge new networks are also needed inside Germany to help renewable power travel from production sites to consumption centres.
German plans for a low-carbon future, which mandate that at least 35 percent of power must come from renewable sources such as solar and wind by 2020, double the current level.
The government has promised quick credit facilities for offshore wind parks and legal changes so that cables connecting them with the shore can be laid quicker.
TenneT through the purchase of E.ON's high voltage grid in 2009 brought its total lines in Germany and the Netherlands to a total 20,000 kilometres, supplying 35 million customers.
It also is the majority owner of Anglo-Dutch power exchange APX ENDEX, which is among market participants propagating market coupling, a process aimed at integrating European wholesale power markets across the regions. (Additional reporting by Peter Dinkloh; editing by James Jukwey)