Initiative to ease grid congestion gathering pace

The Dutch electricity grid is full, especially between 4:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. Last summer, Eneco, together with other energy companies and regional grid operators, started asking consumers in several regions to help relieve the grid. This was done by offering home batteries and by controlling charging stations. Several new companies have since joined the initiative.
 

Participants’ home batteries have since December been being used to supply power to the grid to help reduce congestion and ease power peaks. Between 4pm and 9pm they will supply power to the net. Charging stations deliver less power during that peak or only start charging once the grid is less busy. This means the car will be fully charged a bit later, but still well in time for the next morning.

·       In the past six months Eneco, Essent, Zonneplan, and Frank Energie have connected about 85 home batteries that are now being steered to help relieve the grid.

·       Eneco, Essent, Vattenfall, and Easee have a combined 2,200 home chargers that are either enrolled in smart charging or where owners are avoiding the peak hours manually.

·       Greenchoice and Quatt will also start steering heat pumps.

All of this will contribute to relieving the electricity grid during peak hours. Concrete numbers are not yet available, we expect to have these in a couple of months.

Over the course of this year, the participants want to further expand the number of areas where the initiative applies. They will also look into whether home batteries can be used in the summer, for example on sunny days when a lot of electricity is generated by solar panels and fed back into the grid.