Building new energy pathways with Alliander’s chief transition officer

“We are not incrementally changing the energy system but building a totally new one,” says Daan Schut, Chief Transition Officer at Dutch DSO Alliander.

In a Connect interview at Enlit Europe, Schut explained that his role – a new one for many utilities – is about looking into the long term and issues such as the energy mix, the steps to get there and the investment planning.

“It involves a lot of interactions with municipalities and government to discuss what the system will look like but also defining the pathways to get there.”

Illustrating the pace of change, Schut says that over the past decade, Alliander has put a lot of effort into innovation in areas such as the digitalisation of the grid and connections with customers but because of the high level of congestion that has resulted in the Dutch grid with the rapid uptake of decarbonisation technologies, the ‘world’ that was expected in the future is already here.

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As an example, he cites speaking to an energy community which was bound to sell its energy against the high prevailing energy price rather than on a cost price-plus peer-to-peer rate.

“We need to be in that world now,” Schut comments, pointing to the need for updated legislation but most importantly for a change in behaviour.

“We are used to being able to use energy when we want but with a fully congested grid that is not possible and we have to be more flexible. I know a hospital in the northern Netherlands is not able to expand because of grid congestion. It’s crazy but that’s the world we are in now.”