07/02/2026

On 5 and 6 February, the Policy Learning Platform organised a peer review for the benefit of Flevoland, the Netherlands. 

Flevoland is a frontrunner in renewable energy deployment and is already exceeding its regional renewable energy targets. However, rapid growth in renewable generation, housing, industry, transport electrification, and heating systems has led to structural electricity grid congestion, particularly at higher voltage levels. In response, the Province of Flevoland requested a peer review.

The main focus was to identify short- to mid-term decentralised solutions that enable continued renewable energy deployment and economic development while mitigating grid constraints.

Paul Butschbacher presented SHAREs+ and the possibility of supporting the uptake of the blueprint in countries outside the consortium, which was met with great interest.

 

Peers from across Europe

The peer review was moderated by the thematic experts Katharina Krell and Astrid Severin from the Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform, and brought together six excellent peer experts with complementary expertise in decentralised energy systems and solutions, and related regulatory frameworks:

• Ander Martinez Alonso, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
• Lukas Satkauskas, Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Lithuania
• Michal Tobiáš, Czech Technical University in Prague
• Paddy Phelan, South-East Energy Agency, Ireland
• Paul Butschbacher, Austrian Energy Agency
• Roland Fayn, EDF, French Guiana

 

Key recommendations

During the peer review, European peers and regional stakeholders jointly developed a set of targeted recommendations to address the challenges faced by Flevoland.

• Energy system optimisation

Grid congestion is not primarily a technological problem but a system-design challenge. Immediate action should prioritise combining existing solutions rather than waiting for long-term grid reinforcement.

• Apply the “energy efficiency first” principle

Energy efficiency—particularly deep building retrofits and behavioural change—should be treated as a grid investment alternative. Avoided grid reinforcement costs must be included in cost–benefit assessments.

• Activate flexibility as a system service

Encourage flexible consumption by industry, commerce, and electric vehicles through smart energy management systems, flexible contracts, aggregators for grouped demand-response, and controlled smart EV charging.

• Incentives for flexibility

Use dynamic price signals, mobile alerts, and targeted communication to encourage consumers and businesses to shift demand during congestion periods, as demonstrated in France and Ireland.

• Develop decentralised and hybrid energy systems

Promote multi-energy systems that combine local renewable generation, storage, and control systems. Hybridisation increases resilience and reduces reliance on higher grid levels.

• Enable and clarify the role of microgrids

Support pilot microgrids and closed distribution systems in industrial zones, campuses, and districts. Regulatory clarity is essential to unlock their potential while ensuring grid security.

• Support and scale-up distributed energy storage

Storage should be strategically deployed to absorb excess renewable electricity and provide flexibility. Co-location of storage with renewable assets should be explicitly enabled in regulation.

• Use regulatory innovation to unlock capacity

Implementing regulatory changes can result in immediate capacity gains. Other countries have introduced legal changes to allow for flexible grid connections, dynamic tariffs, shared and hybrid connections, and simplified rules for closted districuton systems and direct lines between producers and consumers.

• Align generation, distribution, and demand spatially

Spatial planning should actively steer renewable generation and energy demand toward proximity, keeping exchanges at low-voltage levels and reducing grid stress and transmission losses. Energy communities or self-balancing districts are examples for local generation and consumption that don’t congest the grid if well designed to stay at low voltage levels.

• Promote sector coupling instead of full electrification

Excess power can be transformed into other energy vectors. Power-to-heat, district heating, biomass, waste heat, and hydrogen can reduce electricity peaks while supporting climate goals.

• Grid-conscious energy policies

Decarbonisation does not equal electrification everywhere. Avoid lock-ins and stranded assets by coordinating electricity, heat, and spatial planning. Heating strategies should explicitly consider grid impacts and flexibility options.

• Strengthen provincial energy system governance and coordination

The Province should act as enabler and coordinator: ensuring grid-conscious regional and local energa strategues, supporting municipalities, facilitating pilots, clarifying regulatory interpretations, publishing grid constraint data transparently, and investing in capacity building.

 

Conclusion

The peers concluded that solutions to grid congestion already exist. The priority for Flevoland is coordinated, local-level implementation, guided by energy efficiency, flexibility, regulatory innovation, and strong collaboration across sectors, stakeholders and governance levels. Acting now—rather than waiting for perfect market or regulatory conditions—will be decisive in maintaining Flevoland’s leadership in the energy transition.