Gov't loaning billions to Tennet to create space on overcrowded power grid

The outgoing Cabinet is loaning grid operator TenneT between 20 and 25 billion euros to expand the overcrowded power grid, sources close to the government told NOS and NRC. The government will announce the measure later today.

The Netherlands’ power grid is overcrowded, resulting in large businesses and new homes often having to wait before being connected. On Thursday, the realtors’ association NVM warned that the overloaded grid was stalling the sale of newly constructed homes, thereby aggravating the housing shortage. It also threatens to delay the energy transition.

According to NOS’s sources, the loan is related to the delay of TenneT’s sale of its German branch. TenneT currently manages part of the German grid in addition to the Netherlands’ high-voltage grid. Negotiations are ongoing, but there is a good chance that the German part will be sold to Germany in its entirety.

The government is creating a “loan facility” of up to 25 billion euros, the sources said. As long as the sale of the German branch is not completed, TenneT can use that money to expand its “energy infrastructure.”

The grid operator will have to repay that money eventually. The Dutch government is TenneT’s sole shareholder.