Companies and energy projects are increasingly facing a new bottleneck: Lack of capacity in the Danish electricity grid. The demand for new electricity connections from data centres, battery parks, large industrial companies, as well as solar and wind projects, is growing so rapidly that available capacity in several places is already exhausted.
According to Energinet, the electricity transmission grid will be a scarce resource for a number of years, which may mean waiting times and longer connection processes for new business projects.
- What could be connected yesterday may be booked tomorrow. Available capacity is becoming an increasingly limited size, says Kim Willerslev Jakobsen, director of System Responsibility at Energinet.
When there are limitations in the transmission grid, they quickly spread to the local distribution networks. Thus, capacity problems can have a direct impact on companies planning electrification, expansion or new energy-intensive investments.
At the same time, several expansion projects in the electricity grid are already affected by delays due to lengthy authority processes and postponed schedules.
What is what?
Transmission network: The main high-voltage network operated by Energinet.
Distribution network: The local electricity networks at the grid companies that deliver to customers.
Network capacity: How much the electricity network can handle here and now without stressing operations.
Connection: When a facility or business is connected to the electricity network and gains access to capacity.
Interface: The point at transformer stations where the transmission network and distribution network meet.
Companies may experience waiting times
Energinet expects that pressure on the grid at times may mean that new solar parks, battery systems, charging solutions and large electricity consumers will have to wait longer to be connected.
- Even though we are expanding as quickly as we can, the electricity transmission network is becoming more and more strained, says Kim Willerslev Jakobsen, emphasising that new demand must not compromise the supply security for existing customers.
New collaboration to find available megawatts
To mitigate the consequences, Energinet and the country's grid companies have established a fast-working group to create a more precise and current overview of the capacity on each side of the more than 200 transformer stations that connect the transmission and distribution networks.
The ambition is to better utilise existing network capacity and more quickly identify available megawatts for businesses, heating plants, charging stations, and new energy projects.
