2023-12-20 09:53:34
The network operators do report an exception. Households don’t have to worry. “We leave room in our calculations for houses that will have solar panels or a heat pump,” says Enexis spokesperson Tim van Ham. “We make the choice to offer space to small consumers such as households.” In practice, this means that existing houses can still cook electrically, install solar panels or exchange the gas boiler for a heat pump.
Hair salon or bookstore
It is relatively easy to arrange that an emergency lane remains free for households despite the traffic jam on the power grid. Because compared to companies that want to purchase more electricity or ask for a new socket, their electricity demand is small. “A hair salon or a bookstore, without a particularly large power demand, can often also be accommodated,” says Van Ham at Enexis. “We have to solve the energy puzzle, we reserve growth space for households. ”
Electricity customers who fall into the ‘3 x 80 amps’ box are out of luck. These are all power consumers with a heavy connection, from supermarkets and restaurants to transport companies and factories. They cannot install additional sockets, charging points or electrical machines. The companies end up on a waiting list in the Hague region and Groningen. National grid operator Tennet, which only handles heavy connections, announces the same for Overijssel.
Companies are disappointed. “The problems on the electricity grid are spreading like wildfire,” responds Mieke Ripken of MKB Nederland, the organization of small and medium-sized businesses. “It hinders entrepreneurs who want to expand and electrify and build new housing.” SMEs do not find it sufficient that companies end up on a waiting list and face uncertainty for years while network operators work on stronger cables. The trade association insists on ‘maximum inventiveness’. Creative solutions, such as smart exchange of energy on the grid.
Ten years of thumb-twiddling
The same sound is heard in Woerden at Vemw, the representative of large energy consumers such as industrial companies. “The approach of regional network operators is no longer up to date,” says director Hans Grünfeld. According to him, more space on the power grid could be used if grid operators used smart IT systems to know exactly where and when electricity transport is possible. “More data through the use of artificial intelligence can help to alleviate the problems,” Grünfeld thinks. He doesn’t think ten years of twiddling his thumbs until a heavier power grid is installed is not an option.
Traffic jams on the power grid are a persistent problem. Network operators expect to have to deal with this for years and to have to make major, complicated choices. Because when a more powerful power network is installed, will an apartment building for the elderly be allowed to connect first, or, for example, a school, medicine factory or care center?
“If you give someone priority, you disadvantage someone else,” says Van Ham at Enexis. His company cannot and does not yet want to make discriminatory choices between customers with a similar electricity demand. The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) wants to produce a manual early next year that will make social choices easier.
Because Enexis anticipates that there will be trouble if one customer receives new sockets while another has been on the waiting list for some time, the grid operator is already calling for a disputes committee. This should assess whether a power customer is granted or rejected a connection on the right grounds. “That saves lengthy court proceedings,” Enexis thinks.
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Traffic jam on the power grid: who gets electricity and who doesn’t yet?
Grid operators promise to accelerate billions of euros to solve traffic jams on the power grid. But it will continue to be a problem for years to come. Hard choices are necessary: who gets a power point and who doesn’t yet?
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