The Cuijk, Haps and Boxmeer substations in the province of Noord-Brabant form part of the Limburg 150 kV grid section. The expected congestion is caused by the growth of solar and wind production in the grid of the regional grid operator (Enexis) and TenneT. The resulting higher transport demand cannot be fully facilitated due to the limited available transport capacity in the high-voltage grid.
What is the contracted and available transmission capacity?
This concerns a meshed grid section in which the relationship between the capacity that has been contracted and the capacity that can be facilitated is not one-to-one. When determining the available transmission capacity, TenneT also takes into account the simultaneity of the various types of generation and demand. In the Limburg 150kV grid section, TenneT has assigned a limit to each substation that indicates the available transmission capacity. At the moment, the forecast contracted transmission capacity exceeds the available transmission capacity at the eight stations listed below. Limited capacity is still available at other 150kV stations in the grid section. A study will be carried out to establish whether application of congestion management in the Limburg grid section could lead to an increase in the limits.
| Station | Provided contracted transmission capacity* | Available transmission capacity |
|---|---|---|
| Boekend 150kV | 217 | 150 |
| Californië 150kV | 79 | 35 |
| Helden 150kV | 286 | 150 |
| Horst 150kV | 128 | 50 |
| Maasbracht 150kV | 97 | 60 |
| Nederweert 150kV | 142 | 90 |
| Venray 150kV | 473 | 80 |
| Weertheide 150kV | 60 | 47 |
*Data supplied by Enexis. The stations Belfeld, Born, Cuijk, Gennep, Haps, Kelpen and Schoonbron are classified by Enexis as 'Phase 1', which means that there is limited transport capacity available for feed-in.
Grid Planning
The structural solution consists of splitting the Limburg 150kV grid into several grid sections, increasing the 150/380kV transformation capacity and upgrading and developing new connections. This concerns a large number of projects with interdependencies and different lead times. An initial expansion involves installing additional 150/380kV transformer capacity in the north of Limburg and splitting the grid section into two. Ultimately, three different 150kV grid sections are expected to be created, each with its own connection to the 380kV grid.
Research
TenneT is conducting research into the possibility of applying congestion management in the area referred to in Article 9.5, subsection 5 of the Electricity Grid Code.
