Aleander: 11,000 football pitches needed to expand electricity grid

In total, grid operator Alliander needs eighty square kilometres to expand its energy network to a suitable level, CEO Martin Otto tells BNR. “That’s the equivalent of 11,000 football pitches, compared to the city of The Hague.”

This space should be used, among other things, to lay cables, build power stations and install transformer houses in neighborhoods. Otto also has exact figures. “This means that we will have to install 23,000 transformer houses in the next ten years, these are the power houses that you see in neighborhoods.”

The cable numbers are even more impressive. “Tens of thousands of kilometres of cable also have to be installed, which is equivalent to going around the world once (the Earth’s circumference is 40,000 kilometres, ed.)” Thin cables are then removed to make way for thicker ones. They have to be reconnected to hundreds of power stations. “This is the construction task we face,” Otto emphasizes.

Local people

This task then has to be divided into an area that should be eighty square kilometres, which, according to Alliander’s calculations, is equivalent to 11,000 football pitches and a city the size of The Hague. “So this is the physical space we are looking for in the Netherlands.” The space should be largely underground, explains Alliander’s CEO, “but of course the stations are above ground.”

This makes things even more complicated for Aleander. “These stations have to be located in neighborhoods, in the built environment where there is often not much space.” But open areas such as meadows are also necessary for the expansion of the electricity grid. This also requires understanding from the local population. “They also have to be located in open meadows, which we sometimes think are very beautiful views.” “So integration is also a big challenge,” says Otto.

Sophie Hermans

In order to achieve the ambitions, Otto has already made an appointment with the Minister responsible for “Climate and Green Growth” Sophie Hermans. She will soon pay a working visit to the CEO of Alliander. “We have to continue to focus on implementing with her to make the Netherlands fit for the future,” is the message he wants to get across to Hermans. He wants to emphasize that this means that “a lot of people” are needed and that “physical space for construction” is needed. “It will take a long time, so we will have to deal with network congestion for some time.”