Alternate carriage rights help allocate scarce space

The changes will become final at the end of this year, but in anticipation of the code change, network operators could already start working with these new contracts. These contracts stipulate that the link may not be used at certain times and may be used at other times, so that the demand for transport is more spread out over the day. As a result, more parties can access energy networks. Network managers can also cut games if they don’t use their connection for a long time (in other words: use it in time or lose it).

Network operators want to work with alternative transmission rights

In order to arrive at these measures, ACM launched a consultation on October 6, 2022. The network operators, united in Netbeheer Nederland, of course responded to the consultation. The network operators have always been in favor of the use of alternative transmission rights in order to spread the use of the network over time and therefore submitted a first proposal for alternative transmission rights to ACM in September 2022.

The use of alternative transmission rights makes better use of the capacity of the existing network. By widening the peaks and filling in the valleys, more electricity can be transported through the existing grid. We view alternative transmission rights as a means of introducing incentives into the system to influence the times of customer demand for transmission capacity.

The same goes for “use it in time or lose it”; the contracted transport capacity must be used, otherwise the untapped potential of your capacity will be allocated to other users. GOTORK clearly indicates that the contracted capacity is actually used. This discourages over-contracting. As a result, requests for transmission capacity will become clearer, allowing network operators to better anticipate growing transmission demand and plan network extensions, but also to issue (more) new transmission rights with less risk.

Solution to fight network congestion

It is very positive that with these measures, ACM, together with the parties concerned, is looking for practically feasible solutions to combat network congestion. Hans-Peter Oskam, Director of Energy Policy and Transition Netbeheer Nederland: “The demand for electricity is growing many times faster than we can build it. ACM offers more tools to enable flexible use of power grid capacity and does so in a proactive and pragmatic way that adapts well to the pace of energy transition, which we are very pleased with.