Enexis is an essential link in the energy supply chain: all the energy in our regions comes together in our electricity and gas grids. We develop, build, manage, and maintain these grids. This concerns the low- and medium-voltage grids for electricity and the regional grids for gas.
Energy that flows through the grid safely - the whole year through, day and night. That is our goal. The largest share of this energy comes from large power plants, wind farms and solar parks in the Netherlands and abroad. TenneT and Gasunie transmit this energy via their national grids to our regional grids. We also receive part of this electricity from our customers. More and more households and businesses are generating their own electricity from the wind, the sun, waste, and combined heat and power systems and are feeding this electricity back into our grid. For instance, in July, we reached the milestone of one million customers with solar panels in our service area.
We are constantly looking into how we can make the energy supply more efficient and sustainable, and how we can make better use of the capacity of our grids. In this context, we are looking at, on the one hand, technical solutions, alternative contract types and the role of energy hubs. On the other hand, we are also examining how digitalisation of our grids and data analysis can help. This way we can expand the grid capacity more efficiently, obtain insight into the energy consumption of customers, and stimulate customers to use energy mainly during off-peak hours.
The electricity and gas grids in the Netherlands
The electricity grid in the Netherlands transmits the electricity of power plants and large wind farms and solar parks to businesses and households. This takes place via various grids.
Electricity that is generated in power plants in the Netherlands and abroad and large wind farms and solar parks is first channelled into the extra-high-voltage grid and then into the high-voltage grid. These grids are operated by the national grid operator, TenneT.
From the high-voltage grid, electricity is transmitted to the medium-voltage grids. From there, electricity is distributed to, for example, transformer stations in districts. The mid-voltage grids are managed by regional grid operators, such as Enexis.
Electricity is transmitted from the transformer station to the low-voltage grid. The low-voltage grid transmits electricity to households and small businesses in a district. The low-voltage grids are also managed by regional grid operators, such as Enexis.
More and more households and businesses are also generating their own energy. They generate electricity from, for example, the wind and the sun. They feed this growing amount of excess energy back into our mid-voltage and low-voltage grids.
The structure of the Dutch gas grid is similar to that of the electricity grid.
After extraction of the gas in the Netherlands and abroad, the gas first flows into the main transmission grid. This national grid is managed by Gasunie.
From the main transmission grid, the gas goes into the regional gas grids that transport the gas to businesses, households, and other local connections. The regional gas grids are managed by regional grid operators, such as Enexis.
Dutch households and businesses are switching from natural gas to energy from renewable sources. However, this does not mean that the gas grid will disappear. Large sections of the gas grid can be reused in the future, for example, for the distribution of green gas, which has qualities that are comparable to natural gas. The gas grid can also be made suitable for the distribution of hydrogen. In the project WaterstofWijk Wagenborgen, Enexis and housing association Groninger Huis are examining which adjustments would be necessary for this.