By 2050, our country must run entirely on renewable energy. To achieve this, our society is electrifying, digitizing and making our energy more sustainable at a rapid pace. These developments are also putting rapidly increasing pressure on our infrastructure, requiring major adjustments to our energy networks. So fast, in fact, that in more and more places, the limits of what the grid can handle are already in sight. It is up to network companies to quickly make our energy network ready for the future. Alliander takes this task very seriously and has developed a clear strategy to facilitate the energy transition as well and as quickly as possible. As part of network company Alliander, ENTRNCE is making a substantial contribution to the implementation of this strategy. In this blog you can read all about Alliander's strategic pillars and how ENTRNCE contributes to these now and in the future.
Electrification & decentralization of the energy market
Driven by our transition to a CO2-free energy system, our society is electrifying. In doing so, we are seeing more and more wind turbines, solar panels, heat pumps and electric vehicles. As we make progress in this sustainable transition, we face a large-scale system transformation. Our electricity grid, which was traditionally demand-driven, now faces the challenge of adapting to an increasingly supply-driven system, driven primarily by non-regulated sources such as solar and wind. During peak times, when electricity generation reaches its peak, for example, the maximum capacity of our infrastructure is already under pressure.
Along with the electrification of our energy system, it is also decentralizing. More and more electricity is being generated decentrally. Whereas electricity used to be mainly generated centrally by producers and delivered to end users via energy suppliers, end users are now increasingly becoming producers themselves with their own solar panels or as members of an energy cooperative. Decentrally generated renewable electricity can lead to increasing pressure on the grid, with increasingly frequent grid congestion. As a result, there is already a lack of capacity in places to serve new transmission requests. This is slowing the pace of the transition to a CO2-free energy system.
Alliander's social task
As part of its social task, Alliander has a responsibility to play a major role in realizing solutions to the above issues. The objective is therefore to provide timely solutions before 2030 to facilitate and, where possible, even accelerate the development and sustainability of the Netherlands. This challenging task requires a clear strategy and thus focus. Alliander has divided this strategy into 7 strategic pillars:
- Excellent management: optimize maintenance & improve customer service
- Reducing demand for transport capacity
- Better utilization of the grid
- Increasing work
- Share data and develop new market services
- Developing infrastructure for heat and renewable gases
- Future-proof foundation
Curious about the detailed description of all the pillars? Read all about them here.
As part of network company Alliander, ENTRNCE has an important task in helping to make Alliander's objectives possible. Pillar 3 (making better use of the grid) and 5 (sharing data and developing new market services) in particular have a substantial role to play for ENTRNCE. Let's see what this looks like in practice.
Solutions
To address this challenging issue, there are roughly 2 solutions that can be distinguished. The first - and most obvious - is to make the grid heavier. In concrete terms, this means more transformers and thicker cables in the ground. However, the pace at which this can be realized is nowhere near sufficient to keep up with the pace of energy transition. Therefore, in addition to reinforcing, the best possible use must be made of the infrastructure already available.
So can this be done? Yes, but...
Just look at the Dutch highways. During the morning and evening rush hours, traffic is jammed. However, the rest of the day is not so busy at all and can be driven from A to B smoothly. The same applies to our electricity network. Grid congestion occurs mainly at peak times. By spreading transmission demand better throughout the day, the capacity of the network can be utilized more optimally. Adjusting the legal landscape is an important factor in enabling more efficient use of our electricity network, for example, consider introducing group contracts for transmission capacity.
We can also unburden the power grid by ensuring that we consume as much power as possible directly where it is produced. This means not just looking at balancing electricity flows at the national ('central') level, but rather looking for opportunities at the local level to better match electricity supply and demand. This may mean, for example, that in some congested areas and at certain times, the demand for electricity should actually increase, especially if there is a lot of renewable production that cannot be efficiently transported. This leads to a more optimal use of existing transmission capacity.
ENTRNCE's contribution to realization of Alliander's strategy
Alliander's strategic pillar 3: Better utilization of the grid
Alliander's strategic pillar 3 focuses on better utilization of the grid, including by enabling the simultaneous exchange of local electricity. The decentralization of the energy market is increasing the need to trade surpluses and deficits of electricity, locally as much as possible. ENTRNCE's platform is the ideal vehicle for this: it offers the possibility to align generation and consumption, both geographically and over time, whereby electricity can be exchanged with other parties locally as much as possible. ENTRNCE makes it possible to do this supplier-independent and down to the connection level. Our platform provides full transparency on both the electricity flows and the associated financial flows. With this, ENTRNCE facilitates a more optimal utilization of the grid, contributing to the acceleration of the energy transition. Important aspects of better utilization of the grid are thus simultaneity and local, which we will explain further below.
Simultaneity and local as a cost driver
By aligning generation and consumption locally as much as possible, transport movements are minimized and simultaneity is promoted: generated electricity is consumed locally immediately. This helps grid operators accelerate the energy transition, while also making the most efficient use of the social costs of reinforcing infrastructure. In this way, ENTRNCE contributes to accelerating the energy transition in a cost-efficient manner.
Alliander's strategic pillar 5: Developing new market services
To efficiently shape the energy transition, network companies and market parties will have to join forces. By developing new, standardized market services, Alliander aims to enable market parties to develop complementary propositions that, for example, will help optimize grid utilization. To this end, Alliander is also seeking co-creation with market parties, such as the development of the Cooperative Energy Exchange. The development of the ENTRNCE platform is another example of developing new market services. Through ENTRNCE, for example, market parties are made more accessible to become active participants in electricity markets. And thus encouraged to make flexibility available to the system, for example.
Working together on the energy transition
ENTRNCE facilitates a nationwide electricity exchange that facilitates local electricity markets based on social interest. In doing so, we want to enable as many market parties as possible to offer complementary services so that users are optimally enabled to exchange electricity with each other locally. We believe in joining forces between network companies and market parties and would like to get in touch.
Would you like to learn more about ENTRNCE's vision, ENTRNCE's role within Alliander's strategy or how ENTRNCE's platform can contribute to making your organization or energy cooperative more sustainable? Then feel free to talk to our experts, they are happy to share their advice with you and help you future-proof your energy supply.
