Here’s how congestion management works

In order to guarantee a stable and reliable power grid, we spread out the available grid capacity whenever demand for power exceeds levels that the grid can handle. When demand is too high at a certain time, we will ask you to temporarily consume or feed in less electricity. The available capacity freed up this way will then be divided evenly among existing and new power grid users.

Congestion management is possible only when there is sufficient supply of flexible capacity in a certain area. If you have flexible capacity and agree to make it available, you will receive a fee. You set this fee yourself based on revenue you have missed out on or costs you have incurred. In effect, you will be making a significant contribution to society by helping to relieve congestion on the power grid so that consumers and companies can continue to rely on a stable grid.  

Congestion management is made up of several phases; the busier it gets on the grid, the more drastic the measures that grid operators have to take. Download the full infographic showing all the congestion management phases here.

Take part now!

The more flexible capacity you make available, the bigger the chance that grid operators will be able to apply congestion management and continue to guarantee a stable and reliable Dutch power grid. If you sign up now, you will always stay in control and be prepared whenever your grid operator calls on you to offer flexible capacity.

You can take part in congestion management if:

• your company generates large volumes of power, like in the case of a commercial greenhouse or farm with a large number of solar panels, a property developer of business premises with solar panels, or a wind or solar farm operator;
• your company consumes large volumes of power, such as a cold storage.

You have flexible capacity if you are able to, either on a temporary or a permanent basis, change how much power you consume or how much you generate and feed into the grid. To find out if you have flexible capacity, fill in the congestion interest form.

To find out how you can participate, take a look at the Participating in congestion management page.

Capacity map

The Dutch capacity map of consumption and feed-in provides an at-a-glance view of where congestion management is applied. See the congestion reports page for a list of congestion assessments that have been completed so far.

Questions and more information

Needless to say, your grid operator will get you up to speed on all the phases of congestion management and the steps of each phase. If you have any questions about congestion management now, take a look at the questions and answers on this website, or send an email to [email protected].