The Dutch Digital Fix for Grid Congestion

A 17-partner Dutch consortium launches three LDES pilots using a modular digital brain to solve grid congestion and stabilize the national power supply

18 Feb 2026

A Dutch consortium led by the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research has begun a three year project to digitalise long duration energy storage. The initiative aims to integrate storage technologies with a modular energy management system to coordinate power dispatch across the national grid.

The project, known as RenewaFLEXNL, is funded under the Dutch MOOI programme. It involves 17 partners including utilities, grid operators, and industrial users. They intend to test three distinct storage technologies at real world sites to address increasing grid congestion.

Participating companies are providing diverse hardware solutions. Aquabattery is testing a saltwater flow battery, while Ore Energy is deploying an iron air system capable of 100 hours of discharge. A third partner, BB One, is using a hybrid platform that combines thermal storage with sodium ion batteries.

At the center of the project is a digital blueprint designed to manage multiple assets simultaneously. This open system allows operators to control different technologies with varying discharge rates and protocols. Utility firm Vattenfall and grid operator Stedin are overseeing the software integration across three demonstration sites. These include wind power operations at the Port of Rotterdam, agricultural greenhouses in De Kwakel, and a logistics hub in Altena.

The project arrives as European regulators struggle to define the legal status of storage assets. In addition to technical testing, the consortium will produce economic assessments and policy recommendations. These will focus on how storage can participate in multiple markets and how tariffs should reflect the value of reducing grid congestion.

Iratxe Gonzalez Aparicio, the project coordinator, said RenewaFLEXNL addresses the urgent challenge of integrating large volumes of renewable energy safely and affordably into an overloaded system.

The initiative highlights a shift in strategy for European grid operators. There is a growing consensus that physical storage hardware requires sophisticated dispatch tools to be commercially viable. The Dutch project suggests that developing these digital layers in tandem with hardware is now a requirement for the energy transition. Future results will likely determine how similar systems are deployed across the broader European Union energy market.