closed distribution system avermieden

Closed Distribution System Avermieden – Eekerpolder

Since 2019, Novar has been developing the CDS Avermieden in the Eekerpolder together with technical consultancy firm Emmett Green.

What is a Closed Distribution System?

A Closed Distribution System (CDS) is a private network. In this case, it refers to a private electricity network in the Eekerpolder area. To operate a private network, an exemption from the ACM (Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets) is required.

There are several requirements a CDS must meet:

• The network is located within a geographically defined area;
• No more than 500 assets or users are connected to the network;
• No households are connected to the network;

Why a Closed Distribution System?

A CDS can help reduce grid congestion. At certain locations and times, the electricity grid is overloaded — more energy is being supplied than is demanded or than the grid can physically transport. This causes traffic jams on the grid. With the CDS Avermieden, we feed electricity directly into TenneT’s national high-voltage grid. This takes pressure off the regional medium-voltage grid managed by Enexis.

This approach also allows energy sources to be distributed efficiently within a specific area. It helps reduce congestion and supports the continued development of renewable energy, which can still be used within the CDS. As a result, the energy system becomes more reliable, energy costs decrease, and we can continue to make our energy supply more sustainable.

New renewable energy projects in the region currently cannot feed their power into the grid due to capacity shortages at Enexis. Strengthening the regional network can easily take five to ten years. The CDS offers a solution by making connections for these projects possible in the meantime. A smart technical fix: “We can’t afford to wait years,” says Jelmer Pijlman, director at Novar. “There are major ambitions for rolling out renewable energy. Without solutions like this, progress will be seriously delayed.”

How does a Closed Distribution System work?

A CDS is — as the name suggests — a closed network. Physical cables are installed: electricity generated by theEekerpolderand Evenreiten solar parks is transported via a 33 kV (kilovolt) cable to a transformer station, where it is connected to a 220 kV cable of the national grid operator TenneT, using the GDS Avermieden transformer station. Various sustainable initiatives can connect to this system — in this case, a solar park that supplies renewable energy. The possibility of adding energy storage to the GDS is currently being explored.

Ultimately, a CDS connects to the high-voltage grid of TenneT through a single connection. A major advantage of this technical solution is that everything “behind” this connection is privately managed and fully financed by the connected renewable energy producers. Nothing is passed on to consumers, unlike a connection through a regular grid operator. The generated energy is fed into the national high-voltage grid via this connection and our CDS transformer station, and from there distributed across the rest of the Netherlands.