Energie-Nederland welcomes the arrival of flex tenders. Flex tenders offer a solution to support the overcrowded power grid in the province of Utrecht. This is Energie-Nederland’s response to a consultation by Stedin about an upcoming flex tender in Utrecht. Energie-Nederland does make three recommendations to improve future flex tenders:
- Organize an open and transparent process
- Make clear national agreements about the use of Flextenders
- Use technology-neutral tenders
Flexible purchase, controllable infeed
To encourage flexible production of electricity, grid operator Stedin in Utrecht has issued a separate tender, or flex tender. Market parties can indicate when they can supply local and controllable electricity. In a separate process, Stedin also looks for flexible customers. By managing both the demand and the supply side, Stedin can better cope with peak times on the power grid in order to solve grid congestion.
Interim solution
Grid congestion, or overloading of the electricity grid, slows down economic activity and slows down the energy transition. Energie-Nederland would like to see this problem resolved as quickly as possible. “Measures that can accelerate the reinforcement of the electricity grid are therefore top priority as far as we are concerned,” says Cora van Nieuwenhuizen, chairman of Energie-Nederland. “Until then, flex tenders are a suitable interim solution. Given the urgency of the problem, we understand Stedin’s current approach, but we also see areas for improvement for future flex tenders.”
Open and transparent process
Energie-Nederland emphasizes the need for an open and transparent process when organizing future flex tenders. Naturally, all parties must have equal access to information. Energie-Nederland advocates a national framework in which the processes are recorded clearly and transparently.
Clear, national agreements
To protect investments by market participants and to guarantee security of supply, there must be clear, national agreements on the use of this new flexible production capacity. Consultation between grid operators, the ministry, ACM and other stakeholders is necessary.
Technology-neutral tenders
As far as Energie-Nederland is concerned, the current demand from grid operators to market parties focuses too much on specific technologies. This limits innovation and increases social costs. By prescribing the use of gas generators, other solutions such as batteries or combinations between gas plants and batteries are excluded. Energie-Nederland advocates that the tenders be technology-neutral in nature. Only in this way can the market offer the most efficient solution to the local problem.
