No longer allowing companies to use the overcrowded electricity network in Brabant and Limburg can have negative consequences for the economy in almost all of the southern Netherlands. That is what the provinces of Brabant and Limburg say in a joint press statement. Mayor of Eindhoven John Jorritsma calls it a ‘sledgehammer blow’ for his Brainport region. Grid operator TenneT announced on Wednesday that no more companies can be connected.
The Brabant and Limburg Energy Commissioners Anne-Marie Spierings and Maarten van Gaans-Gijbels call on TenneT and the government to quickly develop an action plan together with the region and market parties for more and smarter capacity on the electricity network. They call the network administrator’s decisions “unprecedented and unacceptable.”
New large connections for the purchase and supply of electricity will be queued for an indefinite period of time. Deputy Anne-Marie Spierings: “Just now that we want to reduce dependence on (foreign) gas, the electricity infrastructure in a large part of the Netherlands is reaching its limits. This needs to be resolved as soon as possible.”
No longer connected
The impact of the decision of network owner TenneT will be enormous. It is clear that new companies cannot establish themselves in Brabant or Limburg if they need a large-scale consumer connection (3x80A). But existing companies cannot invest in expanding the current connection either.
Although residential construction does not seem to be affected by the capacity shortage on the network for the time being, facilities that require a large connection (such as supermarkets, swimming pools or schools) can no longer be connected for the supply of electricity.
Consequences for energy transition
Tennet’s decision has major consequences for the energy transition. For example, central connections in high-rise buildings or in neighborhoods that are considering a central heat pump or connection to a heat network can run into connection problems. Companies and organizations cannot switch from fossil energy sources to electricity.
In addition, wind farms and solar meadows that do have a permit but do not yet have a connection cannot be connected. Initiatives that have yet to start the permit procedure are also under pressure, according to the commissioners.
In March of this year, ACM noted that the investment plans of the grid operators would not be able to solve the shortages in the electricity grids in the next ten years. The fact that now, three months later, TenneT has to make this decision for the south of the Netherlands has taken the provinces by surprise.
sledgehammer
The overload of the power grid in Brabant and Limburg is a “sledgehammer blow for everything we consider important in the Netherlands”, chairman John Jorritsma of the Brainport Foundation said in a response. The partnership of tech companies around Eindhoven states that the stop of new business connections affects “sustainability, energy transition and activity”.
Jorritsma also speaks of “sand in the economic engine of our country” and points out that Brainport is a so-called main port of the Netherlands, just like Schiphol and the port of Rotterdam, for example. “Here we make technology and machines with thousands of companies that travel all over the world. These are necessary for the major transitions that we all face, such as making energy more sustainable and digitization.”
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