On Thursday 17 October, both regional grid operators and national grid operator TenneT published the first congestion reports under the new rules for congestion management in the electricity grid. These reports provide insight into the potential available capacity for transmission for feed-in electricity from large solar and wind farms in different regions in the Netherlands.
Dutch grid operators are building with more speed than ever to substantially expand electricity grids for the energy transition and the future, sustainable energy system. In the meantime, they are looking into ways to find solutions to relieve thr current grid congestion challenges. That is why grid managers, together with connected parties, in this case connected solar parks and wind farms, are looking for flexibility so that the peaks in power supply and demand can be better matched.
On 18 April 2024, the Authority Consumers & Market (ACM) introduced a package of measures to speed up the realisation of more transmission capacity for feed-in for current and future customers. With these new rules, energy producers can be required by the grid operator to offer flexibility from 1 MW, which has led to additional capacity to connect parties on the waiting list and enable the growing number of solar panels on homes.
The studies performed are a combination of new studies and existing studies that have been redone according to the new rules of the ACM.
Virtually no additional space at regional grid operators
The results of congestion studies by the regional grid operators provide almost no additional space for electricity feed-in. This is mainly caused by the increase in autonomous growth. That is, current users are supplying more and more electricity back to the grid, thereby demanding more and more capacity from the grid.
880 MW potential additional capacity
National grid operator TenneT published six congestion management studies for feed-in for a large part of the Netherlands. No additional capacity was found in Groningen, Drenthe, Overijssel, Noord-Brabant and Limburg, despite the new conditions. In the Noordoostpolder, Friesland, Flevopolder, Gelderland, Utrecht and Limburg, additional capacity was potentially found, Here, a total of 880 MW of additional capacity could become available on the grid if all customers in those regions made flexible capacity available. Part of the extra capacity is needed by the grid operators to guarantee the autonomous growth of feed-in to the grid.
Found flexible space will be distributed
Using the results of the TenneT surveys, the regional grid operators will now calculate how much capacity they can release within the stations. This is because they also have to take into account their own congestion areas and calculate how much transmission capacity they can release where on their own grids. As soon as it is known that space becomes available at a station, parties in that region are approached with the request to enter into a standard contract.
Standard contract
The ACM previously gave grid operators permission to experiment with standard contracts for solar and wind energy producers. If these producers use a standard contract, the connection procedure can be initiated faster. With the release of electricity feed-in space in some regions, this measure can also be applied and waiting lists can be shortened. Source: Netbeheer Nederland
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