Watts to ADD

Guusja Huybregts: Welcome to What’s do it? In the previous episode, we discussed what congestion is, which is a problem that people with ADHD struggle with. And today, we’re going to discuss what is still possible. In the first episode, we briefly touched on what a prioritization list is. Can we go into this in more detail? Yes.

Dirk-Jan Houben: The prioritization list actually consists of three phases, the first of which is to alleviate congestion. So if you build something that immediately reduces congestion, you will always be given priority. You will always be allowed to receive power. There are very few of these. In fact, I don’t know of a single one that has been eligible for this. The second is what I call public social interest. This includes education, defense, security, and healthcare. These are things we all need and that are truly crucial to continue. And number three is housing. I’m simplifying it a bit here, but those are basically the three priorities. That has to continue. And then there’s housing. Mainly because there is such a shortage of housing for people at the moment that they have included it in that prioritization.

G: And could you tell us a little more about the various connections between residential areas, offices, and hotels? How does that work in practice?

DJ: Yes, indeed. In practice, if you apply for a residential tower, you will receive power for it. At least for the part that actually applies to those homes. So, if you want shops on the ground floor, for example, they will not receive any power. At least, no more high consumption. So, still low consumption and, um. And if you have a heating system that has to supply everything, you also get a limit for that heating system so that it only works for those homes and not for the shops in the plinth. Well, for offices, that simply means that you are put on a waiting list, and the same applies in part to hotels. It depends a bit on the duration of the room rental. If you are in the Netherlands for more than four months, you must be legally registered. And then they basically say yes, then you are just a home for those people. Even though you are facilitating a short stay. So there is still some leeway there.

G: And as a project developer, can you get your project higher up on that list?

DJ: Well, actually, not really. So I think what you can achieve is that if you just become a congestion reliever, you immediately jump to the top of the priority list. That seems really complicated to me. We have, of course, been very busy with our external homes here. What needs to be done to ensure that, if homes are considered, you at least have power? You can do that, then you will at least be priority three. But, um, yes, for offices, not really. There used to be a trick where you could apply for low consumption. So you would build a larger complex with lots of house numbers. And then we would add low consumption to each small cubicle. That way, you still had enough power. That has now been stopped, so it’s becoming increasingly difficult. All those tricks and loopholes in the law are being tackled.

G: Yes.

DJ: And perhaps rightly so. Because if you don’t, there will soon be less room for that prioritization.

G: Yes, yes, yes, actually the same for everyone. Yes, the law, actually. Yes. Uhm. We already discussed that the problem occurs throughout the Netherlands. So who decides who gets power first and who has to wait? That’s determined by the prioritization list. Um. Are there other municipalities that do have capacity and are therefore eligible sooner? Um, for example, a very busy area such as Amsterdam, or

DJ: The congestion doesn’t really matter that much. What is much more important is whether an area has been oversized in the past. The port of Rotterdam has had plenty of space for a long time. Simply because the very large, thick cables come ashore there. So you can indeed say that there is simply no more space on the main grid. Who decides? That’s a bit of a two-sided story. Netbeheer Nederland, presumably together with the State, has compiled that prioritization list, so they basically decide. But if you want to apply for it as a private individual or as a developer, then your network operator decides, in our case Liander in Amsterdam. They then decide whether or not you will receive power and whether you are eligible for priority or whether you will be put on the waiting list. Yes.

G: And how does the municipality of Ouder-Amstel view this? And even more broadly, how does Amsterdam view this?

DJ: Yes, interesting. I do notice that it is becoming a real problem, one that is also recognized by the municipality. And I don’t want to say that they don’t know exactly where they need to go. But it is a new problem, and there are no fixed solutions. Solutions are very often considered at the project level. What can we solve within the project? And as a result, a larger social solution is not sought within the project. It’s a bit silly to say that the municipality of Ouder-Amstel is, of course, a somewhat smaller one. Municipalities don’t necessarily have the resources for this. In Amsterdam, you see that a few full-time employees are really working on this, which puts them a step ahead. But with all due respect, it’s not enough to get everything off the ground. And projects that are underway take years. Yes.

G: And what zan we, as citizens and project developers, expect from a network operator?

DJ: Um, I think that’s a good question because I also think it’s twofold. I actually think you should be able to expect to have electricity in a country like the Netherlands, which is why I’m quite angry about the mismanagement that has taken place in my case. Initially, this mainly affected TenneT, but it’s also a nationwide issue. We saw it coming, we knew what they were signing up for, and people who deal with this on a daily basis also predicted it, but no action was taken, which I find scandalous. The fact is that it’s here now, and I do notice that, and I think you can expect 100% cooperation when you come up with a solution. And that is indeed the case at the moment, yes.

G: So, um, yes. As a project developer, you are very dependent on that prioritization list, and you just have to look for other solutions.

DJ: That’s basically what it comes down to, yes. Yes.

G: Okay. That means that in the next episode, we will discuss which solutions we have considered.

DJ: Yes, super fun!