NMa rules Dutch grid operator TenneT must make an effort to make transport capacity available in 2013

Starting in 2013, Dutch national grid operator TenneT must make transport capacity available to a power plant that energy company Eemsmond Energie is planning to finish by then in the northeastern part of the Netherlands. The grid may not have enough capacity by then. However, TenneT still has enough time now to make sure available capacity will be optimally utilized and allocated. This has been laid down in a ruling of the Board of the Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa), which has been the result of a dispute settlement.

In various parts of the Netherlands, transport capacity is scarce. However, the NMa believes that, in 2013, the congestion management system will offer TenneT enough options for dealing effectively with situations where transport capacity demand exceeds available capacity. Under that system, TenneT is given transport projections in advance, with which it is able to assess whether a grid overload may be imminent. In such cases, it can decide, in areas where there is too much demand for electricity, who is allocated transport capacity and who is not, based on objective criteria.


Network operators are legally required to connect all consumers to the electricity network, and, as far as possible, to always transport electricity to them. This legal requirement ensures that the Dutch electricity market continues to function well. The only exception to this requirement is when the network operator can demonstrate that it, in all reasonablness, has no capacity available. The NMa's current position is that TenneT would be able to meet its transport requirements if it optimally deployed the congestion management system.


The NMa's ruling concerns the period between 2013 until 2016. TenneT already expected it would be able to meet Eemsmond Energie's request to supply it with transport capacity in 2016 and beyond, as it will have completed already-planned expansions to the grid by then.