Enexis signs unique capacity limiting contract with large customer to create space on grid
Sappi’s e-boiler. Image courtesy Enexis.
Paper manufacturer Sappi from Maastricht, Netherlands, and Dutch DSO Enexis Netbeheer have entered a unique flexibility contract, known as a capacity limiting contract, with which Sappi reduces its peak load at busy times on the electricity grid.
The contract helps the factory prevent overload on the grid and creates space for new grid connections for new customers in the area.
In total, Sappi makes 24MW of flexible power available. According to Enexis in a release, this is by far the largest flex contract from an industrial customer in the Netherlands.
The contract between the two marks one of the ways Enexis has been working hard to make more efficient use of the existing grid by asking large customers to reduce their electricity consumption during peak times for financial compensation.
Sappi is the first industrial customer of Enexis to conclude this so-called capacity limiting contract.
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Sappi is one of Enexis’s largest customers, with a contracted capacity of 37MW.
According to Enexis, a significant part of this capacity is technically easy to control flexibly. For example, Sappi has an electric boiler that does not have to run at full power all day.
Sappi will make 9MW – equivalent to the needs of approximately 2,000 all-electric new-build homes – of the current capacity flexibly available to Enexis.
In addition, the Maastricht factory is at the top of the waiting list with a request for another 15MW – which it needs for a second e-boiler.
Commenting in a release was Karin Mathijssen, Director of Large Business at Enexis Netbeheer: “A great outcome for all parties.
“In practice, it often proves very difficult to conclude these types of contracts with industrial customers. We understand that we sometimes ask a lot from companies, but this example now shows that it is indeed possible.
“There is one power grid that we all want to use, I think it’s great that Sappi is thinking about more efficient use of that full grid. We hope that this will provide inspiration to similar manufacturing industries.”
Added Ferdinand Koster, Mill Director at Sappi Maastricht: “We entered into this contract because it fits within our sustainability objectives and underlines our commitment to the local community and the broader energy transition.
“By deploying our energy assets flexibly, we contribute to a more stable and better use of the electricity grid and support further economic growth, electrification and decarbonization in the region. This is a win-win situation for everyone.”
Enexis’s electricity grid is full almost everywhere, which means that new major customers cannot be connected. Expansion of the grid is necessary, but that will take a long time. In the South Limburg, additional grid capacity will not be added on a large scale until 2028.
