Â
Sustainable energy system
Energy market
End consumers
Energy storage
Positions energy storage
Position Batteries
The past few years have seen an increase in the provision of behind-the-meter energy services. One of these is the battery.Â
Energie-Nederland recognizes and acknowledges that batteries are needed in a future energy system. However, these should not be promoted as separate entities. The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) has shown that subsidizing batteries is not cost-effective in achieving carbon reductions. Reinforcing the grid is often much cheaper than the use of a battery. Also, from a market perspective, it is not desirable to treat batteries as a separate entity – they compete with other forms of flexibility, such as demand response. Rather, the focus should be on removing barriers to battery use. This could be a review of the grid rates, which would make investment in batteries possible without subsidy.
Position Gas storage
Gas storage facilities are crucial for the security of supply in the Netherlands and our surrounding countries. Under normal circumstances, gas storage facilities are filled in the summer when prices are low and emptied when prices are high in the winter. Several interventions were made in 2022 to achieve high filling levels despite high gas prices in the summer. We expect much uncertainty about the so-called summer-winter spread in the coming years too. We cannot assume that gas storages will be filled ‘as a matter of course’.Â
In Bergermeer, long-term volume is reserved for 20 Twh gas from Gazprom. However, the market no longer has access to this Russian gas. In 2022, Energie Beheer Nederland (EBN, Energy Management Netherlands) was tasked with filling this leftover capacity. Due to the importance of utilizing the volume in Bergermeer, Energie-Nederland proposed to use this solution in 2023/2024 as well.Â
An incentive mechanism for the remaining storage portion of Bergermeer must also be established. Here, the 90% filling level target must be secured. Energie-Nederland’s preference lies in a subsidy mechanism to reduce the value gap of filling the gas storage facilities.
Position Hydrogen storage
Producers and consumers of hydrogen do not always move at the same rate of production and consumption. This requires a buffer. Especially considering that a significant portion of the hydrogen will be made using wind energy, which is not always present to the same extent. There is a small buffer in the pipeline system, but it is not nearly enough to meet the demand for storage. The real big storage can only happen underground.
Gasunie subsidiary HyStock has been working on creating hydrogen storage at the Zuidwending site for several years. There are ten sites for salt caverns at Zuidwending. Six of these are already being used for natural gas storage. The other caverns are suitable for hydrogen storage.
