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European grid is linked together. That's one of the significant points of single market. Netherlands can use French electricity.

by okanat 1mo ago

fransje26 1mo ago
No, the problem is that the Dutch grid cannot cope with its own internal demands. https://dutchtimes.nl/business/connection-ban-in-utrecht-signals-potential-power-issues-nationwide/ https://dutchtimes.nl/business/connection-ban-in-utrecht-sig... https://nltimes.nl/2026/02/12/grid-operator-warns-overload-utrecht-gelderland-flevoland-stop-new-homes https://nltimes.nl/2026/02/12/grid-operator-warns-overload-u... https://nos.nl/artikel/2611522-vol-stroomnet-utrecht-is-een-bittere-pil-waardeloos-dat-afsluiting-nodig-is https://nos.nl/artikel/2611522-vol-stroomnet-utrecht-is-een-...
- CalRobert 1mo ago
  Having just added airco in NL I do worry about this - I actually suspect we could get a _long_ ways with more intelligent timing around power use. Your car can wait to charge while your hob boils a pot of water, etc. House batteries can help a lot with this too of course.
  - fransje26 1mo ago
    If it's only airco it's perhaps not too bad, as your airco usage will most often be aligned with good solar capacity, and you can compensate with solar panels. (if that's possible for you...) For solar, starting next year, you'll get less and less money for the energy you give back to the net, so you might as well us it and store it for yourself instead of letting the energy shareholders get rich with your production. If your unit is also to be used as heat pump, well.. ..things look bleaker globaly in the Netherlands.. Especially if more and more people step over from gas to electric. No sun + cold wave (and therefore an inefficient heat pump) is going to put some people in the cold.. A smarter network could help, if the investments were sufficient. But the problem has been known since the early 2000s, and nothing has been done about it until recently.
- ZeroGravitas 1mo ago
  I've never found a coherent explanation of what this problem is, as an outsider looking in. It roughly matches the shape of the American datacenter issue where an uptick in demand that is small compared with the level of extra demand required for EVs and heat pumps and industrial electrification to decarbonise the economy has apparently caused massive problems. And also the Australian experience where the grid companies would rather curtail solar than sell it cheaply (often because the same companies profit from evening gas prices). You are then forced to conclude that there was simply no coherent plan for electrification. Decades of planning time utterly squandered. Probably spent arguing about whether climate change was real.
  - fransje26 1mo ago
    During my holidays this summer I met, by happenstance, an expert specialized in forecasts modeling, who has been involved in this very problematic, advising the dutch government. He told me that the problem had been forecast and known since the early 2000s, and that basically nothing was done about it until very recently (think less than 5 years). The problem was made worse with the privatization of the electricity network, as the incentive to invest in primary net infrastructure was very low. So it's the classical case of a known problem with no will to invest, combined with successive governments that wash their hands saying "it's privatized, we cannot interfere". (so also with no will to invest) The problem was foreseen, the plans were made and proposed with actionable steps and real deadlines, and nothing was done because the costs were too high. And now the short-to-medium term prognosis is bleak, with blackouts a real possibility.
- fmajid 1mo ago
  Hmmm. Reminds me of 1999, when I worked for Dutch ISP EuroNet Internet BV, and the legacy telco KPN claimed it did not have capacity on its phone network and needed at least 2 years to connect our modems. Odd that a country whose very existence is predicated on keeping its dam/polder network running, something which has led to a very Japanese-like culture of consensus, allowed such critical networks as the electric grid or phone network to rot.

European grid is linked together. That's one of the significant points of single market. Netherlands can use French electricity.

by okanat 1mo ago

European grid is linked together. That's one of the significant points of single market. Netherlands can use French electricity.

fransje26 1mo ago

No, the problem is that the Dutch grid cannot cope with its own internal demands. https://dutchtimes.nl/business/connection-ban-in-utrecht-signals-potential-power-issues-nationwide/ https://dutchtimes.nl/business/connection-ban-in-utrecht-sig... https://nltimes.nl/2026/02/12/grid-operator-warns-overload-utrecht-gelderland-flevoland-stop-new-homes https://nltimes.nl/2026/02/12/grid-operator-warns-overload-u... https://nos.nl/artikel/2611522-vol-stroomnet-utrecht-is-een-bittere-pil-waardeloos-dat-afsluiting-nodig-is https://nos.nl/artikel/2611522-vol-stroomnet-utrecht-is-een-...

CalRobert 1mo ago
Having just added airco in NL I do worry about this - I actually suspect we could get a _long_ ways with more intelligent timing around power use. Your car can wait to charge while your hob boils a pot of water, etc. House batteries can help a lot with this too of course.
- fransje26 1mo ago
  If it's only airco it's perhaps not too bad, as your airco usage will most often be aligned with good solar capacity, and you can compensate with solar panels. (if that's possible for you...) For solar, starting next year, you'll get less and less money for the energy you give back to the net, so you might as well us it and store it for yourself instead of letting the energy shareholders get rich with your production. If your unit is also to be used as heat pump, well.. ..things look bleaker globaly in the Netherlands.. Especially if more and more people step over from gas to electric. No sun + cold wave (and therefore an inefficient heat pump) is going to put some people in the cold.. A smarter network could help, if the investments were sufficient. But the problem has been known since the early 2000s, and nothing has been done about it until recently.
ZeroGravitas 1mo ago
I've never found a coherent explanation of what this problem is, as an outsider looking in. It roughly matches the shape of the American datacenter issue where an uptick in demand that is small compared with the level of extra demand required for EVs and heat pumps and industrial electrification to decarbonise the economy has apparently caused massive problems. And also the Australian experience where the grid companies would rather curtail solar than sell it cheaply (often because the same companies profit from evening gas prices). You are then forced to conclude that there was simply no coherent plan for electrification. Decades of planning time utterly squandered. Probably spent arguing about whether climate change was real.
- fransje26 1mo ago
  During my holidays this summer I met, by happenstance, an expert specialized in forecasts modeling, who has been involved in this very problematic, advising the dutch government. He told me that the problem had been forecast and known since the early 2000s, and that basically nothing was done about it until very recently (think less than 5 years). The problem was made worse with the privatization of the electricity network, as the incentive to invest in primary net infrastructure was very low. So it's the classical case of a known problem with no will to invest, combined with successive governments that wash their hands saying "it's privatized, we cannot interfere". (so also with no will to invest) The problem was foreseen, the plans were made and proposed with actionable steps and real deadlines, and nothing was done because the costs were too high. And now the short-to-medium term prognosis is bleak, with blackouts a real possibility.
fmajid 1mo ago
Hmmm. Reminds me of 1999, when I worked for Dutch ISP EuroNet Internet BV, and the legacy telco KPN claimed it did not have capacity on its phone network and needed at least 2 years to connect our modems. Odd that a country whose very existence is predicated on keeping its dam/polder network running, something which has led to a very Japanese-like culture of consensus, allowed such critical networks as the electric grid or phone network to rot.