Corporate Social Responsibility

Connecting new 'smart' providers to the grid

The demand for capacity in the high-voltage grid is still rising very sharply. All this 'new' centrally and decentrally generated electricity will have to be transmitted across the existing high-voltage grid. This relates not only to new gas- and coal-fired power stations, but also to CHPs and wind energy. TenneT wants to reduce waiting lists for connections as far as possible until new infrastructure has been constructed. A congestion management system was put in place in December 2008. This system allows more electricity providers to be connected to the grid. If the electricity generated simultaneously by producers causes congestion, this can be resolved by means of a market mechanism. During the course of 2009 and 2010, the congestion in the Westland area, where a lot of electricity is generated by CHPs, is expected to be finally remedied as TenneT invests in several new 150 kV cable links and transformer substations.

Decentralised power generation is placing new demands on the 110/150 kV transmission grids which TenneT has been managing since 1 January 2008. Electricity will no longer flow in just one direction - from power station to customer - but increasingly in two directions: from the national grid to the user, and from the user (generating their own electricity) to the national grid.