Alliander, Enexis Netbeheer and Stedin are accelerating innovation together

Alliander, Enexis Netbeheer and Stedin, are looking for innovations that can contribute to the energy transition in the Netherlands. As part of the platform Rethinking Energy, the firms will share innovation challenges with organizations, startups and scale ups worldwide to find the best technological solutions and possibilities for collaboration.
 

Alliander, Enexis Netbeheer and Stedin are already working on the energy system of the future and are therefore strongly invest in innovations and smart solutions to utilize the energy grid more efficiently. These developments are highly necessary since the quick adoption of wind- and solar energy, sustainable heat, electric driving and energy storage results in a different behavior of the energy grid, different from how it was originally designed.

Finding the best players in the market

Pieter Janssen, Innovation Manager, Enexis Netbeheer: “We have an enormous challenge ahead of us to facilitate the energy transition. The distribution system operators (DSO) are working hard on innovating and external help is welcomed with open arms. By working together with our two largest colleagues in the market on these innovations, we can learn from one another.” Marcel Postema, Innovation Manager at Alliander: “Using this approach gives us the possibility to map the best solutions worldwide and engage in cooperation with the best players in the market.” Aart-Jan Zwartscholten, Innovation Manager of Stedin: “We are going to learn together and each of us will apply these learnings in our own areas of operation.”

Start with two challenges

During the launch of the project in June: Alliander, Stedin and Enexis Netbeheer start with two challenges. The first challenge focusses on the rise of local energy systems, which match energy supply and demand locally. The DSOs are looking for integral services or concepts which can enable the formation of local energy communities and systems. The main goal is to make the matching of supply and demand optimal by efficiently exchanging energy between users and suppliers at a local level. The second challenge aims at finding data-driven solutions, which can help predict energy supply and demand in a geographical area based on public and commercial data and consumer behavior. For more information about the challenges check the videos below.

Activating the energy value chain

nlmtd, the initiator of Rethinking Energy, aims to stimulate collaboration and shared insights within the energy sector by introducing this platform. The platform Rethinking Energy is meant for organizations, start-ups and scale-ups within the entire energy ecosystem that want to become part of a movement to accelerate the energy transition together. In this way, organizations can work together and learn from the success stories of others, without having to reinvent the wheel each time to solve their challenges.