- Dutch power grid company TenneT said it made more than 9 gigawatts of capacity available by offering flexible contracts outside peak usage hours.
- The Dutch government-owned firm said it expects flexible grid users to save up to 65 per cent on-grid tariffs by combining this new type of contract and ‘intelligently responding to time-dependent tariffs’.
Dutch power grid company TenneT said it made more than 9 gigawatts of capacity available by offering flexible contracts outside peak usage hours, a move set to attract high-energy users who have been waiting for grid access due to saturation.
In December, TenneT announced that the high-voltage grid in a large part of the Netherlands‘ Zuid-Holland province had reached maximum capacity. It was the last province where capacity was still available for large electricity consumers.
TenneT, the largest high-tension power grid operator in Germany and the Netherlands, has been looking for ways to reduce congestion and expand grids to accommodate massive amounts of solar and wind power needed to shift away from fossil fuels.
It said last month that it would invest about 200 billion euros ($220 billion) through 2034 to strengthen its Dutch and German grids.
According to analyses by the grid operator, available capacity outside of peak hours amounts to 9.1 gigawatts of power, representing over 40 per cent of the country’s current peak demand for electricity.
Applications for the new flexible contracts were for more than 70 gigawatts, mainly from large-scale battery parks, and demand far exceeds the current available capacity, TenneT said.
The Dutch government-owned firm said it expects flexible grid users to save up to 65 per cent on-grid tariffs by combining this new type of contract and ‘intelligently responding to time-dependent tariffs’.
TenneT will contact interested parties starting on April 8 and will engage in discussions over capacity allocations in the coming weeks.
“We are working on expanding the electricity grid throughout the Netherlands. In addition, we need to use the grid more intelligently and make better use of the remaining space outside the ‘peak’,” said group Chief Operating Officer Maarten Abbenhuis.