German electricity grid operator Amprion more than doubled investments last year and is making good progress with expanding transmission connections, the company's top executive said on Thursday.

The company spent roughly €3 billion ($3.2 billion), a record level, on improvements in 2023, according to Amprion's chief executive Hans-Jürgen Brick.

Brick said that incentives aimed at improving and expanding the electric grid enacted by Germany's government "are having an effect."

Improving electricity transmission is a major part of Germany's plans to combat climate change and shift the country toward renewable energy.

Better connections are needed to move wind and solar power around the country, while energy consumers are expected to increasingly switch to using electricity from the grid as opposed to other fuels like gas, petrol or diesel.

Brick cited as an example accelerated plans to construct a major direct current connection from Emden, near the North Sea coast, to near Dusseldorf. That project, dubbed A-Nord, has been brought forward by a year, he said.

The North Sea coast is home to major wind power projects, while Dusseldorf sits on the edge of western Germany's industrial heartland and most densely populated region.

"In conjunction with the Ultranet project, A-Nord will be the first wind power corridor in Germany to transport large quantities of green electricity from the North Sea to the west of Germany," he said.

He added that plans call for continuing the project to the south-western state of Baden-Württemberg by 2027.

Amprion is one of four transmission system operators in Germany. The others are Tennet, 50Hertz and TransnetBW.

Together, the companies operate Germany's extra-high voltage grid, which transports electricity over long distances.

The entire German high-voltage transmission grid is around 35,000 kilometres long, with Amprion responsible for nearly a third of the network in three of Germany's western states.