Outgoing TenneT CEO urges new factories on coast to take advantage of North Sea wind

Outgoing TenneT chief executive Manon van Beek is calling, in an interview with De Telegraaf, for new industrial activity on the Dutch coast. Although the country’s power grid is overloaded, she sees too little electricity demand precisely where large volumes of North Sea wind power come ashore.

“These are two sides of the same problem,” van Beek said. “Dutch consumers are going green en masse. That is incredibly good, but it is happening so fast that grid operations cannot keep up. Along the coast, we are on schedule with the supply of renewable energy. But there we have too little demand.”

In her view, large industrial users are not electrifying quickly enough. “That creates a gap between the amount of power coming available and what companies actually take. The thinking has to change. By the time the wind power comes ashore, the demand must already be there. That means targeted plans for industry that will use the electricity there.”

Subsea cables come ashore at sites including the Eemshaven and the Maasvlakte. Van Beek said the extra demand should not come only from existing industry. “I also speak with data center operators and high-tech manufacturers. At the cable landings, we say, "You are more than welcome here.”

She has the impression that companies are interested. “In Zeeland, the government is actively approaching companies to develop more demand for electricity," she noted. “In an energy system, supply and demand must be in balance day and night. Everyone therefore has an interest in the power from the sea being used.”

Van Beek will be succeeded on November 1 by Frans Eevrts. Until recently, he was chief executive of Shell Netherlands.