Financial Results

Investments

TenneT's tangible fixed assets amounted to EUR 1,470 million in the year under review (2007: EUR 1,263 million) and consist mainly of the high-voltage infrastructure. Depreciations in 2008 amounted to EUR 65 million (2007: EUR 58 million).

TenneT invested EUR 282 million in new operating assets in 2008 (2007: EUR 166 million). These investments related mainly to projects in progress to strengthen the infrastructure in the Randstad conurbation, as well as the electricity connections to Norway (NorNed cable, completed in 2008) and the UK (BritNed cable). In the coming years, we will make further investments in the replacement and expansion of the grid infrastructure.

A sharp increase in plans for new production capacity is the main issue affecting the capacity of the transmission grid. As a result of these plans, it is now expected that the Netherlands will become a net exporter of electricity in the long run.

Several grid upgrade projects have already been set in motion. TenneT is currently working on an expansion of the national high-voltage grid in the Randstad region. The next step will comprise expansion in the northern and central parts of the Netherlands and in the province of Zeeland, and the construction of a fourth cross-border interconnection with Germany. The planning procedures for these projects were started in 2007. Total investment in grid upgrades amounts to approx. EUR 3 to 4 billion.