ABOUT TENNET
that we can’t simply use new hardware without first testing it thoroughly.”
INTEGRATED APPROACH Tennet has an important role to play in the energy transition. How can this be accelerated, in Abbenhuis’s view? “We need to look for solutions at system level. Lots of different parties are involved, each with their own specific roles. An integrated approach will be essential in ensuring that the network can change into a European multifunctional connector of a dynamic electricity supply, with controllable demand for energy and a link to storage in molecules and electrons.” The ESP Lab is the ideal place for developing and testing these innovations to enable them to be successfully integrated. That is what makes the lab an essential link in the successful shift towards a new energy system. “That’s why it makes perfect sense for us to be a partner from the outset.”
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“If we want to make a success of the energy transition, we will need to work together: universities, the market, industry, government and the grid operators”, says
Tennet is a leading European grid operator, also known as Transmission System Operator or TSO. It designs, builds, maintains and operates the high-voltage network in the Netherlands and large parts of Germany and facilitates the European energy market. Tennet transports electricity across a high-voltage network of around 23,500 km to more than 42 million people. With a staff of more than 5,000, Tennet achieved turnover of € 4.1 billion, and a total asset value of €23 billion in 2019.
Abbenhuis. “We have a mammoth task ahead of us in the next twenty years. That’s why we need to continue to nurture our partnership.”
PRIVILEGED “I consider myself privileged to be able to work in a sector that is tasked with completely reinventing itself”, he concludes. “I’m convinced that we’re doing the right things to make the energy transition a reality, in alliance with science. If we are successful in this, we can use that knowledge to ensure that the rest of the world follows suit and that we leave the Earth behind in a better state than we found it.”
ower generation, conversion and storage facilities, grid P and microgrid components, power facilities for high, medium and low voltages, and extensive ICT facilities: the ESP Lab is a unique combination of facilities.
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