LÜBECK/REINFELD. At the beginning of December, the FESH project welcomed a delegation from France. At the invitation of SPL Powerlines Germany GmbH, representatives from politics, industry and research, such as the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Authority (CEA), the state financial institution Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC), representatives of the Bouygues Group and the French postal company La Poste, attended the event.

In France, too, the aim is to achieve high CO2 reduction effects as quickly as possible through the efficient integration of clean energy sources in the transport sector. Against the background of various incipient projects in the field of electrification of road freight transport in France, there was great interest in the experience gained to date with overhead line technology.

Accompanied by the project manager of the field test, Jan Bachmann from the FuE-Zentrum FH Kiel GmbH, the delegation’s visit began with a drive along the eHighway, during which overhead line trucks were also used. The official part of the reception took place at the Reinfeld Education Center, where both the Ministry of Energy Transition (MEKUN) and the project sponsor VDI/VDE-IT – representing the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK) – reported on motivations and future plans. Insights into the project and the experiences and progress made were provided by the FuE-Zentrum FH Kiel GmbH and the Managing Director of Spedition Bode GmbH & Co KG, Marc-Philipp Bode.

Due to the driving snow, the planned visit to a converter station, the so-called rectifier substation 2 (GuW2), was canceled, but this item on the program was filled by a lively exchange with the French guests and did not detract from the event. At the end of the visit, the French side also spoke out in favor of maintaining the exchange with FESH in order to continue to benefit from each other in the future.