Compliment of the month: Provincial Council of Gelderland

In the message series Compliment of the month Every month, we highlight a stakeholder who is making a distinctive contribution to accelerating energy storage in the Netherlands. For the month of December, our compliments go to the Provincial Council of Gelderland, where on December 17, 2025, the motion “Put energy into storage” has been accepted.

With this motion, Gelderland emphasizes the increasing importance of energy storage in the energy transition. More and more municipalities in the province are receiving applications for both home batteries and large-scale storage facilities. At the same time, the RES regions in Gelderland are looking at the bigger picture: not only at sustainable generation, but also at local consumption and local energy storage.

Clarity and a level playing field

The motion acknowledges that municipalities are the competent authorities for energy storage, but that many municipalities are dealing with this for the first time and are still finding their feet when it comes to assessing applications. It also states that entrepreneurs and market parties need clear preconditions and a level playing field in order to be able to invest in energy storage.

The Provincial Council also notes that waiting for national regulations could lead to unnecessary delays, while the province can already take steps now. Energy storage is explicitly mentioned as an important pillar in Gelderland's approach to grid congestion, but its application sometimes lags behind in practice due to, among other things, a challenging business case.

Specific appeal to the Provincial Executive

With the adopted motion, the Provincial Council requests the Executive Council (GS) to:

• in all six RES regions in Gelderland, in addition to targets for generation, also advocate targets for energy storage per region;
• engage in discussions with network operators, entrepreneurs, developers, and municipalities to create a level playing field for energy storage facilities;
• to investigate what additional measures the province can take to promote energy storage in Gelderland and to inform the Provincial Council about this in 2026.

Energy Storage NL considers this motion to be an important and positive step. By explicitly mentioning energy storage in regional policy and not waiting for national frameworks, Gelderland is demonstrating that it takes the role of storage seriously in solving grid congestion and accelerating the energy transition. Advocating for clear goals, cooperation with all parties involved, and creating a level playing field is closely aligned with ESNL's commitment.

We commend the Provincial Council of Gelderland on this motion and look forward to its further elaboration in the RES regions and the province's follow-up research.