Some 14,000 companies are waiting for a new connection to the national electricity grid despite billions of euros in investment, climate minister Sophie Hermans told MPs on Monday.

The shortage of capacity is now holding back economic growth, she said, calling the pressure on the grid “no longer a challenge but a real problem.”

Hermans, who is not standing for re-election as a VVD MP later this month, said a fundamental rethink is needed. She has called a meeting with grid operators to discuss possible solutions.

“The grid is under pressure because industry is switching more quickly than expected from fossil fuels to wind and solar power, consumers are buying electric cars, and households are moving away from gas,” she told the Telegraaf in an interview.

By 2030, electricity is expected to account for 40% to 60% of Dutch energy usage, rather than 17% as it is now. Local authorities have already warned that residential property development is being hit by the shortage of grid connections.

Network operators are investing around €8 billion on boosting capacity a year, but the expansion is still too slow, said Maarten Otto, chairman of the grid operators’ association and chief executive of Alliander. “Companies want to become more sustainable, local councils want to build, and everyone wants electricity at the same time,” he said.

“The demand is greater than we can handle,” Otto added. The sector also faces a major shortage of skilled workers, with 30,000 more technicians needed by 2030, he told the paper.

In April, Hermans announced an package to build hundreds of high-voltage stations and tens of thousands of transformer houses to boost grid capacity. But, she said, “for the waiting times and the problems entrepreneurs are facing now, that is not enough.”

“For the short term, we need to make smarter use of what we have: less peak period consumption and better use of the capacity that is available. That’s where things are stalling.”

Too late

Businesses often realise the scale of the problem too late, Otto said. “About 75% of entrepreneurs who think they’ll need a stronger connection within a year still believe grid congestion doesn’t affect them.”

To encourage flexibility, the government plans to make electricity cheaper for consumers and small businesses during off-peak hours, possibly from 2028.

However, Hermans warned that creating more space on the grid could also mean accepting slightly lower reliability.  “The question is whether we are prepared to give up a little of our 99.997% reliability to create more capacity,” she said.