Construction of new high-voltage link in Randstad region
08-09-2004
By completing the initial bore hole underneath Calandkanaal, TenneT’s CEO, Mel Kroon, has symbolically launched construction work for a new high-voltage interconnection to cater to the Randstad region. In its capacity of national Dutch grid administrator and TSO, TenneT over the coming years will be investing some 400 million euros in the new power transmission links, the first of which is scheduled for hand-over as early as in 2005 so as to preserve the reliability of power supply throughout the Randstad region at its current level.
TenneT through its “Randstad380 Project” is planning the phased construction of the necessary high-voltage links in the Randstad region. It is the Maasvlakte grid, via Bleiswijk to Beverwijk, which is being expanded in a project which all in all will take about ten years to complete. The southernmost section of the link, between Maasvlakte and Westerlee, is scheduled for completion as early as by late 2005, to keep pace with the prevailing power requirement. In addition to putting in place a new high-voltage link underneath Nieuwe Waterweg and Calandkanaal, use is being made of existing pylons.
The next project phase involves the extension of the link from Westerlee via Wateringen to the high-voltage substation at Bleiswijk. The upgrading of the electricity grid in this area can be partially achieved by reinforcing existing high-voltage connections. Bleiswijk substation and the high-voltage substation at Krimpen on the river IJssel are plugged into the annular national high-voltage grid that comes under TenneT’s administration. By 2010 this will produce a closed annular circuit in the southern part of the Randstad region as well, the infrastructure in terms of reliability of supply being even greater in a high-voltage grid that is laid out in the shape of a ring.
Work on the new connection is also under way from the north of the Randstad region, where the upgrading of the existing high-voltage interconnection between Diemen and Beverwijk is currently being prepared. The final link will be the high-voltage connection between Beverwijk and Bleiswijk, which by 2012 or so will produce a second ring of high-voltage lines in the northern part of the Randstad region.
Studies have confirmed that electricity consumption is set to surge over the coming years especially in the Randstad area, house building, new businesses settling in the area, trends in the ICT industry, modern manufacturing methods being used in glasshouse farming and the increasing use being made of household appliances all representing contributing factors.
A further factor is that power generation tends to take place where both the price and the conditions are the most helpful, and this is not always in the region where the power is used but rather, is increasingly happening at greater distances, e.g. beyond the Dutch borders or, in future, at offshore wind farms. All these trends are combining to intensify power transmission. Calculations made on the basis of current growth projections have borne out that the existing high-voltage grid in the Randstad region would no longer be capable beyond 2005 adequately to handle the power transmission requirement. Investment in upgrading the transmission capacity is essential if the reliability of power supply vis-à-vis consumers and businesses is to be safeguarded into the future. Part of TenneT’s remit concerns the monitoring of the reliability of power supply nationally, in which context it collaborates closely with the various regional grid administrators.
