Energy Storage NL joins Grid Capacity Action Team
Energy Storage NL is involved in a broad coalition of 14 parties-entrepreneurs, governments and grid operators. This broad coalition wants to realize structural solutions for the current bottlenecks on the electricity grid in the coming cabinet period. This will enable more large-scale production of energy from solar and wind and can accelerate the electrification of homes, transportation and industry. This is important for the sustainability of our energy system and for the business climate in our country. The coalition, under the name "Net Capacity Action Team," is asking Minister Jetten for Climate and Energy, among other things, for a number of legal adjustments. Also, an incentive program for innovative solutions requires 200 million euros per year from the new funds for climate policy.
The Netherlands is already investing an average of about 3 billion euros annually in the electricity grid to connect solar and wind farms and enable electrification of both households and businesses. This makes our country one of the global leaders when it comes to solar power. However, many large solar and wind farms, entrepreneurs and housing projects are waiting to be connected due to scarcity on the electricity grid. Also for industry, because of the sustainability plans in the MIEK (Multiyear Energy and Climate Infrastructure Program), a lot of capacity must become available on the electricity grid. For the plans of municipalities and provinces, bundled in the RESs (Regional Energy Strategies), space on the grid is also indispensable.
However, a shortage of technicians, long lead times and regulations prevent rapid reinforcement and adaptation of the network. Also, the streets simply cannot be opened everywhere at once. Many large solar and wind farms are planned for the next three years that cannot yet be connected without creative solutions. More than 10 gigawatts of solar power and 3.7 gigawatts of wind projects* are in the pipeline, enough to meet the electricity consumption of more than 6 million households.
The new Network Capacity Action Team wants to find quick solutions for the biggest bottlenecks in the coming cabinet period and outlines in its proposal the main lines along which this can be done. There is also an opportunity for existing and new market parties to deploy smart technologies. Think of local storage of energy, demand stimulation or curtailment (data-based control techniques that smooth out supply or demand peaks, for example). In addition, grid reinforcement and congestion management remain structural solutions.
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The coalition consists of: Energie-Nederland, Energie Samen, Energy Storage NL, FME, Holland Solar, IPO, Koninklijke Bouwend Nederland, Netbeheer Nederland, NVDE, NWEA, Techniek Nederland, VNG, VNO-NCW/MKB Nederland, WENB
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Preconditions
With their proposal, the 14 parties explicitly take responsibility for joint solutions but at the same time ask Minister Jetten for Climate and Energy for co-ownership and concrete actions. Thus, in the short term, fulfillment of a number of preconditions is needed, such as:
- shortening realization times for grid expansion, such as by establishing a fast lane with specialized (legal) policy staff;
- the ability of governments - in consultation with stakeholders - to make socially considered choices in distributing scarcity if locally necessary;
- Faster adaptation of laws and regulations that allow grid operators and market participants to work together to optimally deploy flexibility (such as batteries), among other things;
- Research into the effect of financial incentives in technical vocational education; for example, a graduation bonus for senior secondary vocational technicians and extra funding for technical courses. There are already far too few technical professionals for grid reinforcement, but also for installing solar panels and heat pumps.
Incentive program
To deploy flexibility and creative solutions, the Grid Capacity Action Team recommends an Incentive Program of €200 million annually during this cabinet period. This can give an impulse to the implementation of existing and new techniques locally at major bottlenecks. Think for example of the already mentioned (large-scale) storage or steering of (local) demand.
*Respectively Solar PV Monitor 2021, RVO and Wind on Land Monitor 2021, RVO.
