Minister and State Secretary visit Utrecht to accelerate solutions for grid congestion

Minister of Housing and Spatial Planning, Elanor Boekholt-O'Sullivan, and State Secretary for Climate and Green Growth, Jo-Annes de Bat, visited Utrecht to discuss measures with regional authorities aimed at accelerating solutions to the crisis surrounding grid congestion. The electricity grid is so overloaded that a connection freeze is already threatened this summer. This would mean that new homes would no longer receive a power connection, and housing construction and business activity could grind to a halt in the long term. To prevent this, accelerated expansion of the electricity grid is necessary, including the construction of the high-voltage substation in Utrecht-Noord.

The province of Utrecht, together with Flevoland and Gelderland, currently has the most congested electricity grid in the Netherlands. Grid operator TenneT announced on 12 February that in large parts of the Utrecht region, available capacity has been fully utilised, and new connections for small consumers may also no longer be possible from this summer onwards. This directly affects the major housing task in the region and hinders the greening of the energy supply. For large consumers, there is already a waiting list. A full connection freeze is the next step to prevent large-scale disruptions and power outages.

Accelerating grid expansion

The visit by the minister and state secretary began in Utrecht-Noord, where the high-voltage substation is set to be built. Accelerating its construction is crucial to creating more capacity on the grid before 2033 and resolving the crisis. The cabinet members inspected the proposed location and engaged in discussions with local residents to address their concerns.

Netherlands' largest housing construction site

After Utrecht-Noord, the cabinet members visited the new construction sites Rijnenburg and MerwedeKanaalZone, which, together with the A-12 zone, form the largest housing construction site in the Netherlands. In Rijnenburg, the extension of the Merwedelijn railway line was discussed, as it is a prerequisite for the development of the new district. The unique collaboration between municipalities and market parties was also highlighted. Grid congestion was also addressed here: in Rijnenburg, energy stations are being expanded in size and number to meet the increasing demand in the city and region.

Tailored solutions

In the MerwedeKanaalZone, it was explained how innovative and sustainable tailored solutions enable continued construction despite grid congestion, such as the group contract that aligns and reduces the energy demand across the area as a whole. While these local solutions are helpful, they are insufficient to structurally resolve grid congestion. Grid expansions, such as the new high-voltage substation in Utrecht-Noord, are necessary. Accelerating its construction to bring it into use before 2033 is crucial to resolving the crisis in the Utrecht region. Alderman Senna Maatoug (Energy and Climate), Municipality of Utrecht: "Grid congestion is not a temporary problem; the scarcity on the electricity grid is the new reality. In Utrecht, we will already hit the grid's limits this coming summer, and a connection freeze looms. In the coming period, it is of great importance that grid operators, the central government, and municipalities work together in a results-oriented crisis approach focused entirely on solutions. Let Utrecht be the place where we test and scale up new solutions, because what works here can then be applied throughout the rest of the Netherlands." Provincial Executive Huib van Essen (Energy), Province of Utrecht: "With this working visit so soon after their appointment, the minister and state secretary demonstrate that they recognise the severity of the situation in Utrecht. A connection freeze would be disastrous for our region and for the ambitions of the new cabinet. We already have one of the largest housing shortages in the Netherlands. If we work together, we can still avert a connection freeze. To do so, however, we need support from the central government to remove obstructive regulations so that we can accelerate grid expansion. And assistance with measures to reduce peak load on the grid caused by households. I expect to make firm agreements on this with the cabinet and grid operators soon."

In 2022, TenneT announced that the high-voltage grid had reached its limit, meaning that businesses and other large consumers would from then on be placed on a waiting list. In 2023, the grid operator warned that the situation was dire, with a possible waiting list for small consumers on the horizon. If TenneT imposes a connection freeze this summer, this would apply to housing construction planned for the coming years. In the event of a full connection freeze, 52,500 planned new-build homes in the province could temporarily not be connected, primarily in Rijnenburg. The same applies to the more than 1,100 businesses currently on the waiting list, as well as new public charging points. Moreover, the greening of the energy supply—switching from fossil fuels to electricity—would also stall.

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