Tennet invests heavily to add green energy to grid

DutchNews, July 26, 2018

Photo: DutchNews.nl

Tennet, owner of the Dutch national grid and another covering large parts of Germany, spent €904m in the first half of 2018 upgrading its infrastructure as part of the energy transition, the Financieele Dagblad said on Thursday. 

The power grid operator said the expenditure was the first part of a 10-year, €30bn investment in cables and other infrastructure as well as software and hardware to smooth the transition away from gas and towards green energy.  

Tennet, which is owned by the Dutch government, said total revenues were unchanged at €2bn while gross operating profit fell to €699 (796)m as regulations were adjusted in the Netherlands. Tennet provides no net earnings figures. 

Unlike fossil fuels, green energy – wind and solar – generate variable amounts of power. ‘This presents us with a new situation as end-users cannot handle variable electricity generated by weather dependent sources,’ said Mel Kroon, outgoing head of Tennet. 

‘This involves not only developing new infrastructure to connect the offshore wind farms with the land-based grid, but also in designing new software and hardware to operate it,’ Kroon said.