Minister Hermans is working on a national target for Flexibility and Energy Storage
On November 27, the Dutch House of Representatives debated network congestion and energy infrastructure. During the debate, several members of parliament emphasized the value of energy storage in designing a smarter and more flexible energy system. Energy Storage NL welcomes the increasing political attention for storage, but also recognizes that concrete steps are still needed to fully exploit the sector's potential.
Minister announces national flexibility and storage target
An important step in the debate is the minister's announcement that the Netherlands—like other European countries—will formulate a national target for flexibility, demand response, and energy storage. This target will become part of the European system in which all member states must indicate how much flexibility their energy system requires.
The minister emphasized that the goal will be focused on non-fossil flexibility and that it will be established in 2027. Energy Storage NL sees this as a necessary basis for providing clarity to market parties, financiers, grid operators, and local authorities about the direction of energy storage.
Understanding where storage can make a difference
During the debate, the minister confirmed that the motion to map storage locations has now been implemented. The network operators have specified in their 2026 Investment Plans where flexible capacity—including energy storage—is needed. This information will be compiled next year on the capacity map of Netbeheer Nederland.
This is a valuable development for Energy Storage NL: insight into where flexibility relieves the grid most helps to develop targeted storage projects and to realize congestion solutions more quickly. However, the industry organization does indicate that further analysis at the substation level is necessary to ensure that energy storage is placed in the right location.
Need for better preconditions for upscaling
Although the minister mentioned various schemes that support storage, the sector continues to face obstacles. High tariffs, long lead times, and uncertainty surrounding licensing procedures limit the speed with which projects can be launched.
Energy Storage NL sees opportunities in the minister's commitment to standardize and simplify licensing procedures for storage, particularly for mobile systems. ESNL also sees the minister's request to the ACM to explicitly examine whether a feed-in tariff for batteries is possible in the ongoing ACM study into the added value of batteries as an important step towards a fairer and more future-proof tariff structure.
Speed and clarity are now needed
The debate shows that energy storage is central to solving grid congestion and increasing security of supply. But, like the rest of the energy transition, the sector needs consistent policy, predictable market conditions, and clear choices. A clear national flexibility and storage target can form the foundation for this: it makes tangible what is needed. Energy Storage NL calls on the government not only to develop this target quickly, but also to link it to concrete measures that will accelerate storage projects.
