Thousands of companies added to waiting list for power grid

It is still not possible to create more space for businesses on the overloaded electricity grid. In a short period of time, the waiting list has grown from 12,000 to 14,000 businesses, according to outgoing climate and energy minister Sophie Hermans (VVD). There are no simple solutions anymore, she says.

Companies on the waiting list often have to wait years. According to the progress report of the National Action Program on Grid Congestion (LAN), this is because expanding the regional and national grid takes a lot of time.

The minister had hoped that companies would be more flexible with their electricity consumption, for example by using less at peak times so that others could have access. This would allow existing capacity to be better utilized on a temporary basis.

In practice, however, this has proven to be virtually impossible. Grid operators are struggling to convince large consumers to participate, and cooperation is also needed from companies that are not themselves affected by the overload.

In March, there were still 12,000 companies on the waiting list for a connection. In addition, more than 8,000 other parties that want to feed electricity back into the grid — for example, from solar roofs or solar parks — are still waiting for space on the grid.