TenneT Announces Multi-Billion Investment in Dutch Grid

TenneT will invest a total of EUR 6 billion in Dutch high-voltage grid in the next decade.

Driven by significant growth in renewable energy capacity in the Netherlands and surrounding countries, the transmission system operator will commit some EUR 2 billion for the expansion and replacement of Dutch high-voltage grid on land and will pour approximately EUR 4 billion into the country’s offshore grid projects over the next ten years.

The investment in developing and building the grid at sea is related to the connection of 3,450MW of planned wind farms off the coasts of Zeeland and Holland to the national grid.

From the EUR 4 billion earmarked for the high-voltage grid on land, around 70% is required for expanding the network, 20% for replacement of parts of the infrastructure, and 10% for other types of investment. The expansion investments are in line with previous expectations, while the volume of replacement investment has grown, TenneT said.

The capacity of power connections between the Netherlands and its neighboring countries in the coming years is expected to look as follows:

• Belgium: 2400 MW from 2019 (based on the recently updated data);
• Denmark: 700 MW from 2020 (COBRA cable);
• Germany: 2,450 MW in 2017 and approximately 4,250 MW in 2020 (increase through Doetinchem-Wesel 380 kV, Meeden-Diele and Flow-Based market coupling);
• Great Britain: 1,000 MW (BritNed cable);
• Norway: 700 MW (NorNed cable).

TenneT added that it is committed to collaborate with other grid operators in Europe as much as possible to achieve a single integrated (Northwest) European energy market.