New companies and existing companies that want to expand their activities in Drenthe cannot purchase electricity directly from the electricity grid for the time being. The limits of what the high-voltage grid can handle have been reached, according to grid managers Tennet and Enexis. The supply of electricity is therefore under pressure, which also applies to a small part of the province of Overijssel.
At the end of this month, an investigation into solutions for the resulting blockage will start. During that process, the network operators cannot make firm agreements with business customers about new or upgrading of existing connections.
According to Daphne Verreth, director of Energy System and Transition at Enexis, this does not mean that the grid will be closed, but that the light will turn orange as far as connections are concerned. “Customers can register, but we cannot yet say when power can be supplied.” This concerns large consumers, such as large companies and shopping centres, not private individuals.
According to Tennet and Enexis, the demand for capacity is currently overwhelming the supply. The number of applications is increasing faster than the grids can be realized. For example, there is a rapid growth in the number of solar parks in Groningen, Drenthe and Overijssel.
In Drenthe itself, the enormous demand for electricity is striking. More and more companies are making their energy supply more sustainable electrically, for example by installing e-boilers. This rapid growth is now leading to a bottleneck in Tennet’s network in Zeijerveen and Assen. This is the connecting station between the regional high-voltage grid and the national electricity highway.
“Around this point, the power is starting to become very scarce,” said Tennet’s head of grid planning, Robert Kuik. Work is currently being done on the expansion of this station, but it will not be ready until 2025 or 2026. The network around Meppel also seems to be getting stuck.
TenneT plans to invest a total of 13 billion euros in strengthening the national network. This includes the construction of extra slip roads to the national electricity highways in order to better cope with the growing supply and demand from the regions.
National solutions are also being looked at. The government, network operators and interest groups have been discussing this since the summer. Minister Jetten will present an action program in December.
TenneT is taking action itself by making a number of proposals today to ACM, the watchdog of the energy market. One idea is to have customers pay if they do not use the grid at peak times. At the end of this month, the network operators will start a round through the market. Two months later it should be clear how much extra air this so-called ‘rush hour avoidance’ can provide on the grid.
Of course, this is only a temporary solution, says Kuik. That is why efforts are also being made to accelerate the strengthening of the regional network. Such as the aforementioned station at Zeijerveen. “We expect to be able to install the first transformer in 2024. As a result, there will be more capacity from that moment on.”