When companies and households want to move away from gas, coal or gasoline, they need much more electricity. This electricity must be transported across the grid from power plants, wind turbines and solar farms to businesses and homes. The rising demand for capacity on the grid cannot be kept up by grid operators. Network operators in Germany, France, Portugal, Spain and Hungary as well have recently issued alerts.
These network problems are causing industrial companies to delay their sustainability plans. The long waiting periods threaten the energy transition. The government is demanding more and more from companies, but the crowded grid is preventing these companies from becoming sustainable in time.
Waiting times for new connections
Businesses experience long wait times for new connections, up to 10 years. Deze uitdagingen zullen zich naar verwachting verspreiden over Europa, waar de uitbreiding van het elektriciteitsnetwerk de komende jaren een cruciale rol zal spelen
Europe struggles with inadequate investment in power grids compared to growing green energy targets. The Netherlands stands out for equal investment, while many other European countries lag behind. This results in waiting lists for companies and green energy producers, and sometimes forces wind and solar farms to shut down, incurring significant costs.
Solution
To solve the problems with network capacity, 80 million kilometers of cables must be laid worldwide, which is double the current networks. In Europe, long licensing procedures and a shortage of technical staff are cited as obstacles to rapid implementation of new networks.
In the Netherlands, for example, it takes an average of 10 years to build a high-voltage cable, despite acceleration due to the Crisis and Recovery Act. In other countries, such as Germany, the procedures are often even longer and require both national and regional permits.
Source: Energeia
Advice Energy Excellent
For companies striving for sustainability through solar panels, it is smart to focus on concurrency. Optimize the use of generated energy by utilizing it directly for your business processes, minimizing the need to feed energy back to the grid. In addition, implement a system that automatically shuts down the solar panels when there is no energy consumption, maximizing efficiency and minimizing costs.
Many flex solutions are also available. Wondering what flex solutions are, and how you can implement them to better manage energy? Then read Stedin’s ‘Flexoplossingen’ article.
