Image courtesy 123rf
To handle the increasing volume of electricity in the Netherlands, grid operators Enexis, Stedin, and Alliander are launching the LV-NExT challenge, an international call for market participants to come up with innovative solutions to accelerate the expansion of the low-voltage grid.
While the grid is currently being upgraded in 100 neighbourhoods annually, that number needs to increase to 1,000. Thus, the goal of the challenge is to complete grid expansion construction ten times faster.
LV-NExT is a call to improve logistical methods and processes and develop new tools. Additionally, says Alliander in a release, the grid operators are explicitly not focusing solely on the energy sector. Rather, sectors such as automotive, defense, and shipping are also invited to contribute their ideas.
The best ideas will be selected based on their expected impact.
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Commenting in a release was Jeroen van Oorschot, product owner, Hardware Innovation at Alliander: “The demand for more capacity in our low-voltage grids is growing faster than we can currently keep up.
“This requires courage to embrace new ways of working. With LV-NExT, we’re opening doors worldwide to ideas that radically accelerate our pace. If we can address ten times as many neighbourhoods per year, that changes everything.
Selected parties will be assisted in the first phase, the ‘idea phase’, with the expertise of grid operators.
Subsequently, they can test their ideas in the prototype phase in a simulation street specifically built for the challenge. This 500-square-meter outdoor space simulates a typical Dutch neighborhood, including several houses and transformer substations. The simulation street will open in November 2025.
Said van Oorschot: “Smart solutions already exist outside our sector; through LV-NExT, we’re bringing them to the streets.”
According to Alliander, the initiative comes as grid expansion moves too slowly in the country, where bottlenecks on the power grid are a common occurrence.
Additionally, the operator says the country is facing a shortage of technicians, a deficit which could reach 18,000 by 2032. Therefore, radically innovative solutions and ideas are needed, which the grid operators say they are willing to develop together with market players.
