TenneT begins takeover of operational management from regional grid operators

24-06-2009 On Tuesday 22 June, TenneT began the first stage in its phased takeover of the operational management of the regional 110 kV and 150 kV grids of Liander, Enexis and Delta. The operational management of these grids is to be transferred to TenneT’s National Control Centre in Ede. The management of Liander’s spur network in Friesland province will be taken over first, to be followed quickly by Liander’s grids in Gelderland and Flevoland. Noord-Holland province will bring up the rear in the autumn of this year. The operational management activities taken over by TenneT comprise 463 kilometres of 110 kV high-voltage connections and 1834 kilometres of 150 kV connections in total.

The transition is part of TenneT’s plans to strengthen the national high-voltage grid. One of the ways of achieving this is to bring all operational management activities under one roof. The takeover by TenneT makes it easier to centrally coordinate all control activities related to the grid. This will in turn improve the security of electricity supplies in the Netherlands. TenneT plans to take over the Enexis grids in the north of the Netherlands in late 2009. The Enexis grids in the south of the country will be transferred in the spring of 2010. Last in line is regional grid operator Delta: the operational management of its grids will be taken over in mid-2010.

Security of supply
TenneT’s second National Control Centre in Ede was established specifically to manage electricity transmissions on the 110 kV and 150 kV grids with the aim of safeguarding the security of the Dutch national grid as a whole. The National Control Centre in Arnhem monitors electricity transmissions on the 380 kV and 220 kV grid. Grid monitoring and security analyses are becoming increasingly important with a view to international collaboration. TenneT is therefore beefing up grid security at the international level as well. Earlier this year a joint security centre was set up in Rommerskirchen, Germany, together with RWE Transportnetz Strom, one of the operators of the German high-voltage grid. The purpose of this centre is to monitor the security of the cross-border interconnections between the Netherlands and Germany.