No Buienradar but an ‘energy forecast’: also something for the Netherlands?
NOS News•
Take a look at an ‘energy map’ before you start washing your electric car and start charging it. You can do that in France on the website Mon Ecowatt – which will be expanded with an app and will have its own section in the French news.
With such a system, the French can cut their energy bills and save on a national level, experts say. How does this work and is it also possible in the Netherlands?
Energy forecasts, red zones and alert SMS
It’s like a weather forecast – but for electricity consumption. Electricity consumption is provided in four ways. For example, there is a map with green, orange and red zones. This is mainly a snapshot: in a green zone an orange becomes normal amount of power, in an orange color a lot and if the card is red the power could go out.
There is also an energy forecast, in which the consumption for the days is predicted, just like a weather forecast. In addition, tips are given on how and when you can save money and you can sign up for a warning text message when there is danger in your region in the catchment area.
Previously, the European Union required them to reduce their power consumption by 10 percent, half of which during peak hours. The Netherlands must therefore also get to work.
something for the Netherlands?
“As far as I’m concerned, we will also do this in the Netherlands,” says Olof van der Gaag, director of the Dutch Association of Sustainable Energy (NVDE). “We are in an energy crisis, we have to do everything to save. It is also very useful to see when there is a peak in electricity demand, if that peak is generated in the most polluting and expensive way.”
Grid operator Tennet indicates that a site in the Netherlands is not necessary for the time being, because no shortages are expected in the Netherlands in the coming winter. “It is useful for the future, however, if both companies as consumers make more flexible use of the network, so that the peak moments are better spread,” says a spokesperson.
According to Van der Gaag, an ‘energy weather forecast’ is so useful because energy generation is happening every day, especially due to the arrival of solar and wind energy. “On a sunny afternoon is the best time to do laundry. If the wind is very strong at night, that can be the best time to charge your car.”
According to Van der Gaag, the situation in France is different from that in the Netherlands, because the French have many power stations and electric heating, ours are mainly heated with natural gas and central heating boilers. “But there are also times in the Netherlands when there is far too much power demand.”
When asked who could make an energy journal in the Netherlands, Van der Gaag has an idea. “The national grid operator Tennet has a lot of insight into electricity consumption of the weather. I hope that the Dutch public broadcaster would broadcast it.”
An excerpt from an energy weather report from the NVDE: