National Action Plan for
Update
Climate and Energy minister Rob Jetten has today accepted the National Action Plan for Energy Storage from Energy Storage NL (ESNL). This sectoral organisation is a partner of the FME, the Dutch employers’ organisation for the technology industry. With this action plan, ESNL is putting on the agenda the need to accelerate the energy transition by utilising energy storage systems and conversion. The Action Plan contains various proposals to remove barriers for all forms of storage.
The National Energy Storage Action Plan 2023 contains concrete points that policymakers can work on. It outlines a vision of the sustainable energy system of the future, where storage of renewable energy—such as electricity, molecules, or heat—provides the necessary flexibility to ultimately eliminate the need for fossil fuels. The proposals address various challenges, including the lack of a legal status for energy storage, the absence of fast-tracked permitting procedures, and the need for up-to-date data on the status of the electricity grid. "There is a growing awareness that the energy transition will only succeed with energy storage. Energy storage makes our system independent from other countries, leads to lower energy prices, and makes fossil fuel-based gas and coal plants redundant. This will accelerate the energy transition and also tackle the energy crisis," says ESNL Chairman Maarten van den Heuvel.
Balancing
High energy prices, the growing share of sustainable generation and the burgeoning issue of grid congestion have rapidly made clear the need for energy storage in the Netherlands to be delivered in short order. Storage plays an important part in balancing weather-dependent supply and the demand for sustainable energy. Batteries can for instance contribute to a stable electricity grid, thermal storage can provide homes with heat and sustainable molecules can be stored in large volumes to bridge seasons.
Currently many barriers still remain that hinder the business case for storage. As a result the Netherlands is lagging other European countries. Mr Van den Heuvel: “The government must realise that proactive policy is needed, the fact is that the market cannot solve this without the removal of barriers. With the National Action Plan for Energy Storage, we are making concrete suggestions to the government to jointly deliver the necessary acceleration.”
