TenneT has produced a proposal for a congestion management system

27-06-2008 TenneT has put the finishing touches to the proposal for a congestion management system, whereby the implementation of the system will create more transport space on the national high-voltage network. This has been done in close cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, regional network managers, market parties and interest groups.

This market mechanism should make it possible to end the temporary suspension on connections for new production means, within the criteria set by the Ministry of Economic Affairs for the congestion management system. However, there is an insufficient level of support from a number of interest groups from the energy sector. This has resulted in the fact that the joint network managers can’t realise the congestion management code change proposal quickly enough for it still to be arranged for the third quarter of 2008. All parties involved have agreed that some form of congestion management system must be introduced. Alternatives are currently being considered, whereby the criteria set will again need to be considered. In the meantime, a fast custom made solution is now being worked on for Westland, where the demand for transport capacity is urgent.

Background

A large number of plans for both new large exchanges, as well as for a number of small CHP’s and windmills have been developed during the past two years. A number of regions in the Netherlands have been specifically focussed on, which have favourable circumstances for setting up new units – both large and small scale. This will soon create a situation where producers in those regions will be able to supply more electricity to the high-voltage network than can be transported. This can lead to an accumulation of electricity (congestion), which will endanger the security of supply. Until recently the procedure was such that the new units could not be connected until the network was sufficiently strengthened or expanded, which could literally take years because of the many procedures in place.On 20th December 2007, the Ministry of Economic Affairs indicated in a letter to the House that this procedure needed to be changed, specifically to give plenty of opportunities for new, mostly sustainable ways of creating energy. The Minister subsequently requested for the regional network managers and TenneT to come up with an alternative congestion management system. This system would need to satisfy the criteria set by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, like guaranteeing the security of supply, keeping up with the investment climate for sustainable and conventional production, being non-discriminatory and working in conformance with the market, effectiveness and feasibility.

Various market party interest groups remarked on the aforementioned criteria when the joint network managers’ congestion management code change proposal was discussed. These are mostly focussed on guaranteeing the security of supply, like an incentive for market parties to stick to their programme and the non-discriminatory character of the congestion management system, like uniformity and, in their eyes, respecting the existing rights of market parties which are already connected.