The province of Utrecht is turning back to gas due to an overcrowded power grid

NOS News•today, 11:44

Despite all attempts to get the Netherlands off gas, natural gas is desperately needed in the province of Utrecht and other regions in the coming years to continue building homes. This is reported by outgoing Climate Minister Jetten, grid operators Stedin and Tennet and the province. They announce a series of ‘fossil’ measures to relieve the overcrowded electricity grid, so that new addresses can still receive power.

To start with, residents of Utrecht who want to make their homes more sustainable are advised to use hybrid heat pumps instead of heat pumps that run entirely on electricity. So-called ‘adjustable generation’ is also needed, such as additional gas turbines. A measure that is also highly expected is the deployment of charging stations for electric cars at peak times. Stedin already made a call for this at the end of February.

If the measures are not implemented, new construction will no longer be possible in large parts of the province of Utrecht, the energy transition will ultimately slow down and there will be interruptions to the power supply, the parties warn. This concerns a shortage on the electricity grid for small consumers, such as households and retailers, which is equivalent to the consumption of 125,000 homes.

With the measures, they want to prevent new construction and consumers who want to make their home more sustainable or install a charging station from being put on a waiting list. “These are measures that have a significant impact on reducing the overload of the power grid,” says deputy Huib van Essen of the province of Utrecht. Pausing charging stations at peak times and temporarily switching to gas installations at peak times are “unfortunately necessary” for this.

Initially, this concerns the province of Utrecht, where the situation is particularly dire, according to the parties. Similar measures are being considered in other places. It must become clear before the summer which measures are needed in the Flevopolder and Gelderland.