Battery Storage as System Infrastructure

The regulatory shift the Dutch energy system urgently needs

The challenge

• Grid congestion has become structural
  More than 44 GW of generation capacity and 33 GW of demand are currently waiting for grid connections, equivalent to the out put of around 100 million solar panels and the electricity consumption of approximately 6 million households. At the same time, grid expansion can take five to ten years. The consequences are already visible: slowing electrification, delaying housing developments, and constraining industrial growth.
• Renewable energy still lacks sufficient flexible capacity
  Solar and wind energy are inherently variable, while fossil-fuel power plants continue to provide backup capacity and maintain system balance. Without scalable alternatives, the energy system remains dependent on gas to ensure stability and meet peak demand.
• Regulation no longer fully reflects system reality
  Solutions capable of reducing pressure on the grid are still too often treated as if they contribute to congestion. As a result, flexibility solutions that could help accelerate the energy transition face unnecessary barriers to scaling and deployment.

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Why battery storage matters

Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) should not be viewed as an energy product; they are system infrastructure. Unlike grid expansion projects, which often require years to deliver, battery storage can typically be deployed within 6–18 months. Batteries absorb excess energy when supply exceeds demand and return it when the system needs it most.

In doing so, they support grid stability, reduce peak loads, and increasingly provide the flexible capacity traditionally delivered by fossil-fuel generation.

Without large-scale battery deployment, the Netherlands is left relying on two relatively slow-moving mechanisms: expanding grid infrastructure and maintaining fossil-based flexibility. Neither can keep pace with the current acceleration of electrification.

When deployed strategically, large scale BESS can help unlock capacity at congested locations, creating room for businesses, homes, charging infrastructure, and renewable projects currently stuck on waiting lists. By 2030, the Netherlands is expected to require approximately 6.7 GW of battery storage capacity, equivalent to the electricity use of around 1.2 million households. Today, only 0.8 GW is operational.

The gap is significant and the timeline is short.
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A coordinated approach to flexibility

Return recognizes the balancing act grid operators face. They must ensure equal treatment of every connection request while also needing greater control over how flexibility is deployed where it creates the most system value.

As a neutral market leader connecting grid operators, renewable producers, businesses, and consumers, Return's role is not to choose sides, but to strengthen the system as a whole and remove barriers that slow progress.

This requires an integrated approach: a fixed transport right as the foundation, combined with a market-based Capacity Steering Contract (CSC), a flexible mechanism designed to steer capacity more intelligently, where the grid operator needs it most.

This consists of:

• Fixed availability compensation
  Recognizing that BESS creates system value by freeing up grid capacity and reducing the need for costly grid reinforcement, even when batteries are not actively dispatched.
  

• Market-based activation compensation
  Compensation when flexibility is actually deployed, based on real market value.

Unlike existing congestion management tools, a CSC should not be viewed as an emergency intervention. It should become a structural mechanism that embeds flexibility into long-term system planning.

The required instruments already exist within ACM frameworks. Applied effectively, they enable grid operators to take a more strategic position without requiring entirely new regulatory structures. This increases the overall value battery storage can deliver to the energy system.

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What needs to happen

(aligned with Better Utilization, Faster Development, and Smarter Insights)

• Policymakers
  Recognize battery storage as infrastructure and support the structural use of existing ACM and grid operator instruments. Implement CSC as a standard alternative where it can provide a more efficient solution than grid expansion.
• Regulators (ACM)
  Update tariff structures so that grid-neutral or grid-relieving assets are not treated as conventional large-scale consumers, but as infrastructure that increases system capacity.
• Grid operators (TenneT/DSOs)
  Increase transparency around congestion data, model battery storage as a system solution rather than an additional load, and deploy CSC as a structural instrument rather than solely a measure for exceptional circumstances.
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Conclusion

Battery storage is not an optional addition to the energy system. It is becoming a fundamental requirement for a reliable and future-proof energy infrastructure.

The question is no longer whether BESS is needed. The question is how existing regulatory and operational frameworks can evolve so that grid operators, renewable producers, businesses and consumers can work together more effectively. This will enable battery storage to contribute where it creates the greatest system value: relieving grid congestion, enabling new connections, strengthening system stability, and accelerating the energy transition.