Energy Storage NL, Energie Samen, Holland Solar and FME: local energy storage crucial for making the built environment more sustainable

Ahead of the Parliamentary debate on the Climate Agreement Built Environment on March 25, Energy Storage NL, Energie Samen, Holland Solar and FME have jointly issued a letter sent to the members of the House of Representatives. In this letter, we call attention to the importance of local energy storage as a precondition for further sustainability of the built environment.

Grid congestion is increasingly reaching the low-voltage grid as well. This has direct consequences for housing construction and sustainability projects, because new residential areas can no longer always be connected to the electricity grid. This is precisely why it is necessary to better coordinate energy supply and demand locally.

Local energy storage plays a key role in this. By temporarily storing energy when there is a surplus and making it available again when demand increases, the electricity grid can be relieved. This can be done through home and neighborhood batteries, for example, as well as heat buffers that can store energy for longer periods of time.

In our joint letter, we make three specific recommendations:

Increase incentives for smart local energy storage

Households and groups of small consumers who contribute to the local balancing of supply and demand through storage currently receive hardly any financial appreciation for this. We therefore advocate measures that encourage self-consumption of locally generated energy and new forms of contract that allow households and collectives to actively contribute to solving grid congestion in the neighborhood.

Avoid double energy tax and simplify VAT rules

Local storage, such as home batteries and two-way charging, is currently subject to energy taxes on both charging and discharging. We advocate to avoid this double energy tax. In addition, we propose the introduction of a zero percent VAT rate for local energy storage, similar to the regime that has applied to solar panels since 2023.

Encourage neighborhood storage and collective energy systems

In addition to individual applications, local storage at the district and neighborhood level offers great opportunities to make the energy system more efficient and robust. Yet a coherent policy framework that supports such collective initiatives is currently lacking. We therefore argue for policies that better facilitate collective systems and resident initiatives.

Without sufficient storage capacity, further electrification and sustainability of homes will increasingly run into the physical limits of the electricity grid. Local energy storage is therefore an important precondition for enabling energy transition in the built environment.

With this letter we ask the Lower House to include the above proposals in the debate on the Climate Agreement Built Environment.