It will be one of the major challenges for Amsterdam in the early years: building and expanding electricity stations to provide the city with sufficient electricity. A more extensive power grid is needed, because more and more people are moving away from gas and electricity is used to make homes and buildings more sustainable. Add to that the fact that more and more cars are at the charging station.

Alderman Zita Pels (Sustainability) wrote this week in a letter to the House of Representatives that Amsterdam cannot handle this transition alone. Among other things, the alderman wants Amsterdam to have more control over who can be connected to the grid. In fact, first come, first served.

Reserved power

An example of this is a data center that years ago submitted an application for connection to the electricity grid. The construction of the data center has started and will take several years, but other facilities cannot now use the reserved capacity. Last year, primary school Het Wespennest in Noord was able to cope with a similar situation not right for over a year in a new school building.

currently 266 new large-scale consumers and parties that want more capacity, such as supermarkets, offices and factories, are on the waiting list for a power connection. There were still 161 last year. Pels will be given the opportunity to give priority to schools, but also hospitals and transport companies, even if they register later.

‘No pause button on climate change’

Another thorny issue is the health risks associated with new power stations. Last month it turned out that the construction of a larger electricity station at Uilenburg in about twenty homes could lead to magnetic fields with a strength that is associated with a higher risk of leukemia. It is presumed that a magnetic field of more than 0.4 microtesla gives this opportunity.

Despite the risks, Pels says Amsterdam cannot wait to expand capacity. During a committee debate last week: “Pain is part of the energy transition. Know that electrification in our city also leads to health benefits. We have to do it as carefully as possible, but we can’t stop and really keep going. There is no pause button on climate change.”

Together with health experts from the GGD, the municipality is looking at whether homes can be adapted so that risks remain within limits. If the residents still find the health risks unacceptable, they will be offered a relocation scheme. Pels is now asking The Hague for money so that network operators can partially finance it.

Allowance

In addition to Uilenberg, eight other electricity stations must be renovated in the foreseeable future. There, too, people live so close that health risks are a problem. In 2028 Amsterdam must more than forty electrical installations to count. Pels says that it is conceivable that physical health questions will be asked about these new locations in the near future.

She therefore told the council last week that The Hague should also come up with long-term plans to accommodate Amsterdammers. They refer to the Paris Agreement, which states that Europe will have at least 40 percent less CO by 2030₂ must emit. Pels: “For the highest areas such as Amsterdam, I want the minister (Rob Jetten, ed.) to make an arrangement, so that we do not have to conclude at the end that it was not possible due to a lack of money.”

Amsterdam revenues in 2021 even a letter of fire to The Hague, where the municipality said it wanted to blow the whistle on large consumers. Initially, a parliamentary debate on electricity networks was to be held on Wednesday, but this debate has been moved to March 9.