Acceleration in achieving sustainability
Each year we connect more wind turbines and solar farms to the power grid. In addition, green gas producers are also increasingly turning to us for connections so that they can feed their sustainable gas into the natural gas network. In 2024, we again saw an increase in the number of consumer-registered connections with an active feed-in installation in our service area from roughly 973,000 to approximately 1,077,000 (up +11%). Due in part to increased uncertainty about future revenues, the growth trend is flattening off. Congestion and a less favourable business case are the main reasons for this.
Number of feed-in installations at our customers
Effective investments in a climate-neutral system
Making our energy systems more sustainable often requires substantial investments that are recouped with lower energy bills. We reduce overall carbon emissions as a result, and our economy becomes less dependent on imported energy. But are we investing enough to meet the long-term goals? To answer that question, SEO Economic Research, commissioned by Alliander and others, published a study in 2024 in which the firm identified the number of energy transition-related investments made in 2023. The study also evaluates whether that level of investment is sufficient for achieving a climate-neutral energy system in 2050. The study shows that in 2023, an amount of roughly €25 billion was invested in sustainability, almost 12% of the total investments in installations, vehicles and factories, for example. Businesses account for the lion's share at €14 billion, followed by network operators (€7 billion) and households (€4 billion). This is roughly in line with current indications of how much short-term investment is needed to maintain the feasibility of achieving our long-term energy and climate goals.
It should be noted, however, that the easiest phase of this transition is now over. That involved making obvious aspects of our energy usage more sustainable (such as turning off power plants when the sun shines). In the coming years, investments must continue to rise to achieve a profound system change: in how we produce energy, in how we use our grids and in how energy users will participate much more actively in the system. We are working on an update to our Energy Vision document. In it, we examine bottlenecks in the transition investments in the market and among customers.
Sustainable developments in our service area
Solar energy installed capacity
8,247
MW
+12.0%
compared to 2023
7,362 MW in 2023
Wind energy installed capacity
1,830
MW
+0%
compared to 2023
1,824 MW in 2023
Quantity of green gas fed in
82
miljoen m3
+9.3%
compared to 2023
75 miljoen m3 in 2023
Number of public charging points
19,758
+18.7%
compared to 2023
16,648 in 2023
Electrification in the area of mobility
The number of electric vehicles continues to grow. Of the 380,000 plus new passenger cars registered in the Netherlands in 2024, more than one in three were fully electric. Although government incentives are being phased out, we expect the number of electric cars and demand for charging facilities to continue to grow. In order to charge all of these cars, the principle of ‘grid-friendly’ smart charging should be made mandatory for all public and private charging points. The essence of smart charging is that charging electric vehicles should not contribute significantly to the peak loads on the power grid, as charging is only performed within the capacity limits of the power grid.
Spatial planning collaboration to achieve area-based grid expansion
The rapid growth in electrification is difficult for us as network operators: it means that we need to be working everywhere at once, but we cannot do that. This is why we are calling on public authorities to manage this development more and adopt a more structured approach. We call this energy planning. To this end, we are working closely with various public authorities in the integrated programming process. An Energy Vision and pMIEK (Provincial Multi-year Infrastructure Energy and Climate Programme) have been adopted in all provinces. We are working together with the municipalities in our service area on the district-specific choices linked to heat solutions.
Collaboration is also needed to take implementation structurally to the next level. These types of collaboration are crucial to accelerating the energy transition and ensuring that the energy infrastructure matches spatial and sectoral developments, such as residential housing construction, industry, mobility and agriculture. Following publication of the National Implementation Agenda for Regional Infrastructure, we signed the Implementation Agreement with our collaborative partners in 2024.
New contract forms due to high and volatile energy prices
The high energy prices and the growing share of sustainably generated energy are leading to major fluctuations in the price of electricity during the day. This affects some of our customers and provides certain opportunities for us. The large price differences are accelerating the use of flexibility and thus also the demand for new contract types. We saw growth in the popularity of home batteries.
The number of households with a dynamic energy contract also rose. The hourly prices in these contracts are agreed with the suppliers the day before. They are particularly beneficial for customers with flexible loads, such as electric boilers, electric cars or home batteries. The increase in the number of dynamic price contracts may be the start of a future trend that could potentially have a major effect on our network load.
Improved neighbourhood analysis tool
We offer effective support to municipalities and housing associations by making a Neighbourhood Analysis Tool available to them. The Neighbourhood Analysis Tool provides information about the gas and electricity networks, their capacity, age and materials. It also shows for each district the expected (not directly customer-related) medium-voltage substations. This gives municipalities and housing associations easily accessible information about the grid situation. In 2024, we improved several aspects of the tool. For example, we are testing a new feature with municipalities to make it easier to find suitable sites for new medium-voltage substations. Furthermore, it is now easier to see if the possibilities in a district match the municipality's new home construction ambitions. Thanks to feedback provided at a very early stage on whether the municipality's ambitions can be accommodated in a substation, municipalities can now manage developments more effectively.
Future-proof heating supply
The transition to an alternative, sustainable heating supply affects all companies, consumers, building owners and public authorities in our service area. Choosing new heating solutions is not an easy task and the availability of infrastructure plays a major role increasingly often. The choices being made are already having a major impact on the low-voltage network capacity. As the scale of sustainability improvements increases, we are also expecting issues in the higher voltage networks.
Insulation is the first step
Reducing energy usage is a crucial step in the transition to a sustainable energy system. Back in 2023, the government provided additional resources for measures to promote energy savings and to keep the energy bills of households and businesses affordable, making us less dependent on other countries and avoiding overcrowding of the electricity grid. This is important: insulation is a crucial building block for reducing the energy usage of buildings, since most of the energy consumed in the built environment is used to heat homes and other premises in the winter. Reducing the demand for energy will reduce peak loads on the networks, and that is crucial.
Heat pumps and electrical solutions
Demand for electrical solutions has risen strongly. In the built environment this is reflected, for example, in the increased number of heat pump installations. However, due to a policy change, we are seeing a slower rate of growth in the heat pump market.