Successful SKa Round Table on energy issues and area development
On May 15, Straatman Koster organized SKa's Round Table. The theme of the Round Table was energy transition and the impact on area developments. With attendees from various sectors, such as the energy sector, governments, public transport parties and consultancies, we discussed the major energy challenges. The central question was how we can use (legal) instruments to manage energy transition and how we can deal with bottlenecks such as grid congestion.
The afternoon was opened by Robert Kielstra, director of ECW. ECW is a private utility, operating as a private grid operator, energy producer and trader. ECW has its own networks of cables and pipelines, production and storage facilities electricity. It supplies heat and gas to large customers located at Agriport in Middenmeer. Robert Kielstra gave a reflection on developments in the energy market and the challenges of making energy supplies robust and sustainable. In doing so, he also gave an insight into how ECW is steering for optimal use of energy systems. With an integrated energy chain, they offer an optimal mix of energy sources and thus realize a reliable energy supply.
Next, environmental law expert Marinda de Smidt discussed the various instruments that the new Environmental Law offers to steer energy transition, such as the environmental vision, the environmental plan and the environmental permit. These allow municipalities to steer the locations where energy facilities can be realized. However, their space is limited by energy law, which regulates the operation of the energy chain. They may not thwart the regulatory choices of the legislature with their environmental rules. We discussed the unruly practice, in which it is often difficult to distinguish the boundary between control of the living environment (which is allowed) and control of the energy chain (which is more difficult). Questions were raised such as: can a municipality refuse an environmental permit because of the threat of grid congestion? And can you impose requirements on energy use?
An important part of the energy transition is the ambition to take neighborhoods off the gas and move to a more sustainable heat supply. With the Collective Heat Act (Wcw) currently being debated in the House of Representatives, the primacy is placed on municipalities. Our specialist Najoua Haireche discussed the tools they will have in their hands to promote the heat transition in the built environment. Among other things, they will establish heat plots within which heat facilities must be realized and they will designate heat companies, in which governments must also have a majority stake. We discussed expectations of these new instruments and the consequences for customers. They may be confronted with higher tariffs and may opt for their own alternative heat supply, such as the heat pump. This has consequences for public support and for the business case of the heat company. And thus possibly also for the chances of success of the heat transition.
Many projects - ranging from housing construction to energy projects - are coming to a standstill or are in danger of being seriously delayed as the power grid fills up in more and more places. A veritable "battle for the grid" has developed, with projects trying to prioritize and use alternative solutions to still achieve their energy supply. In the final part of the Round Table, our energy law experts Gijs van Midden and Marc Marcusse discussed possible solutions to unblock projects in spite of existing grid congestion. For example, the Energy Act changes the grid operator's connection task, giving them more leeway to not immediately honor connection requests and giving applicants more insight into their expansion plans.
The Consumer & Market Authority (ACM) is not sitting still either. We discussed the prioritization framework it has drawn up, which requires grid operators, in the event of grid congestion, to prioritize facilities of social importance, such as security services, housing and education, when allocating capacity on the grid, upon request. In addition, the ACM allows for alternatives to grid connection. For example, it makes it possible for multiple customers to use one connection ("cable pooling") or as customers to distribute contracted capacity as they see fit (so-called group contracts). Furthermore, experience with the 'closed distribution system' (GDS), in which customers are connected to the private network of a third party, has been available for some time. Experiences that are very useful precisely now to still provide space for projects.
We look back on a successful afternoon where real-world insights and possible solutions were shared and discussed. Would you like to know more? Please feel free to contact one of us:
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