Grid operator TenneT can't guarantee elctricity supply beyond 2030
The security of the Netherlands’ electricity supply is currently still high at 99.99988 percent, and will remain high until 2030. But after that, the supply will become uncertain, TenneT, the high-voltage grid operator, said in a report to the Ministry of Climate and Green Growth on Thursday, NOS reports.
The Netherlands currently has sufficient coal and gas-fired power stations to generate the electricity demanded. But the last coal and gas-fired power stations will close in the coming five to ten years. At the same time, the switch to electric cars and heat pumps, as well as the growing population, means that the electricity demand is only increasing.
The intention is to meet the growing demand by sustainably generating and storing electricity, but that capacity is currently insufficient to compensate for the closure of the power stations. And sustainable sources like wind and sun don’t always supply power when it is needed. “That makes the system more complicated and vulnerable,” Maarten Abbenhuis of TenneT said.
The grid operator urged the government to take timely measures to arrange sufficient flexibility in the power grid, for example, by significantly increasing battery storage.
TenneT also warned that the economic survival chances of gas-fired and nuclear power stations are decreasing. These power plants are needed to keep guaranteeing electricity supply beyond 2030. The grid operator, therefore, advised the government to speed up its research into a capacity mechanism, in which the government pays energy companies to keep gas-fried power stations in reserve for times when the electricity supply will fall short.
