The role of the grid in our energy transition
As we integrate more renewable energy generation assets, particularly intermittent sources like solar and wind, the strain on the grid continues to increase. This strain has two major implications. First, obtaining permits for new projects becomes more challenging due to grid congestion and limited capacity. Second, industrial companies and other behind-the-meter (BtM) sites face strict grid connection limits, restricting their ability to expand renewable generation or participate in the energy market.
Countries like Spain saw this problem early after its pre-2010 solar boom, with new projects getting stuck in permitting queues and missing connection deadlines. More recently, countries such as the Netherlands, being a leader in solar adoption (number 1 in the EU for solar capacity per capita and number 5 in the total EU solar deployment ranking), now face severe grid congestion, causing delays and interruption in numerous projects.
There are three primary solutions that have to work together to ease the strain on the grid: physical grid reinforcement, energy storage, and digitalisation.
Physical Reinforcement: This involves upgrading the grid—installing new transmission lines, building larger substations, and modernising transformers. However, such efforts are slow and expensive, with projects often taking years to materialise.
Energy storage: Energy storage technology, such as BESS, offers a faster and more flexible solution. By storing excess energy and discharging it when demand spikes, FtM batteries can reduce the load on the grid without requiring massive physical upgrades. Additionally, they are useful for BtM industrial sites dealing with grid connection limits. Batteries can smooth out supply and demand imbalances, giving sites more control over their energy usage while still contributing to the grid.
Digital grid optimisation: Digital technologies provide a fast and cost-effective way to alleviate grid constraints. Solutions like demand response shift energy use during peak times, while dynamic grid management uses real-time data to adjust power flows and prevent overloads. Digital tools optimise grid performance without requiring major physical upgrades, and are therefore an essential part of strengthening our grid.
Ultimately, the combination of grid reinforcement, battery deployment and digital tools will allow us to keep expanding renewable energy without overloading the system.
If you're navigating grid connection issues, you can model your site’s constraints and explore solutions in Gridcog, as Pete demonstrates in his video.
All Energy Australia, 23-24 October
All Energy Australia is just two weeks away! This week we’re spotlighting our CEO and Co-Founder, Fabian Le Gay Brereton, who is chairing a panel on Building Grid Resilience: Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). It will explore how BESS can enhance grid stability and resilience, address peak demands, and support renewable energy integration, with a number of guest speakers you can see here.
Come visit us at stand XX142 to learn more, or if you’re interested to find out how we can support your energy transition project, tap the image above to book a free demo call with one of our energy experts.
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Industry Insights: Physical grid reinforcement plans in Europe
While there are grid constraints and connection issues, governments are realising the need to invest in upgrades.
The EU launched their 14-point Action Plan for Grids in November 2023 to modernise Europe’s networks. It is estimated to require €584bn until 2030.
At the same time, the UK’s National Grid has launched their Great Grid Upgrade, which entails 17 major infrastructure projects and is valued at a minimum of GBP 16bn.
Product Corner: Import and Export Connection Limits
In Gridcog, the site meter allows you to configure the import and export connection limits of your site. The values are defined in kilowatts (kW) and can be limited or unlimited, symmetric or asymmetric. Via the Operating Envelope, you can also apply dynamic, time-varying constraints on energy imports and exports from the site. To do this, you'll need to define separate Import or Export Control Schedules in our Library.
That’s all for this week. If you’d like to see how Gridcog can model your energy projects, click here to book a call with our team.
Or, if you have any interesting project use-cases you’d like to see modelled in Gridcog, email our marketing magician dan.pearson@gridcog.com and we’ll spin it up!
Grid congestion can be managed operationally, on transmission networks at least, so is not, in itself, a reason to deny or delay connection requests. Many market designs choose to use this excuse, but that is a choice, not a necessity. Congestion management mechanisms need to be developed for distribution networks too, to address that bottleneck.