The queue changed before the grid did

Issue #001 showed that Brabant is not uniformly blocked. Three of seven Brainport service areas still held regional room, while the total picture stayed red because of the transmission layer. The change that matters now is not on the capacity map. As of 1 July 2026, the rule that decides who reaches scarce capacity first has changed. In Enexis congestion zones, new and heavier connection requests enter a single shared queue, and priority category now comes before a simple first-come, first-served reading of the order. For anyone screening a site, capacity is no longer the whole question. The other half is which queue applies, and where this project ranks in it.

Decision lens

If your team is screening Brabant, the question is no longer only where capacity exists. It is which queue applies, which direction is constrained, and whether an asset can qualify differently under the priority framework. That is what this issue answers.

Signal #1 The queue rule changed on 1 July

In congested Enexis zones, from 1 July 2026 all new or heavier connection requests go onto one shared waiting list: households, small business and large business together. The automatic reservation that small connections used to receive has ended. Position is now set by the ACM priority framework on societal grounds, not only by connection size or application date.

A simple first-come, first-served view is no longer enough in these zones. Two technically similar projects may face different timelines if they fall into different priority categories. Site screening that stops at the capacity map misses the layer that now shapes the order.

Source: Enexis, nieuwe werkwijze voor stroomaanvragen, 1 July 2026. ACM prioriteringskader.

Signal #2 Feed-in and off-take now diverge visibly

TenneT and Enexis published what read like opposite messages. TenneT released 264 MW of feed-in capacity on the high-voltage grid in West Brabant and the Eindhoven and Tilburg regions, with a further 632 MW expected once the new Geertruidenberg station opens at the end of 2026. At the same time, Enexis reported that parts of its Brabant grid have no off-take room left after 1 July. Together they resolve the apparent contradiction: the grid is a two-way road, and room to send power back is not the same as room to draw power in.

A positive release headline can apply to the direction a project does not need. A site that both feeds in and draws down has to read both layers separately. Reading only the release side builds a location decision on the wrong constraint.

Source: Enexis, bijna 1.000 megawatt transportcapaciteit vrijgegeven, April 2026. Enexis, update netcapaciteit april 2026.

Signal #3 Congestion-easing assets become a different commercial case

Under the ACM framework, the top priority category is congestion easers: parties that free up grid room, which Enexis describes as using, for example, batteries or gas generators, and which applies to large business connections. This is conditional, not automatic. A battery does not lead the queue by default. But a battery that demonstrably relieves congestion can qualify differently from a plain generation or storage asset. There is now a live example. TenneT has contracted a roughly 200 MW, 800 MWh battery from Green Energy Storage, part of the Sequoia development in Oosterhout, as a congestion easer. It receives priority under the ACM framework, and the room it frees can be offered by the grid operator to others on the waiting list. It is expected operational in 2027.

For storage developers weighing Brabant sites, this reframes the case. An asset that can demonstrably ease congestion is not only a revenue play. It can affect queue treatment and create room that the grid operator can offer to others on the waiting list. The GES contract is a concrete template for how that mechanism can work.

Source: TenneT, contract met Green Energy Storage, April 2026. Enexis, maatschappelijk prioriteren.

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What we are watching for #003

Two things to watch:

TenneT's autumn 2026 recalibration. The Noord-Brabant congestion study is due for recalibration, which TenneT has said will include the effect of the Green Energy Storage battery on the waiting list: how much room it frees, from when, and for whom.
The provincial response for Brainport. Regional government has signalled it wants to take more grid risk to keep the region's growth from stalling. That is where the new queue rules meet political pressure.

We will read both against the substation timelines from Issue #001: Hapert into the early 2030s, and Wijchen between 2033 and 2036.

Sources and confidence

Shared queue and end of small-connection reservation in Enexis congestion zones from 1 July 2026, order set by the ACM priority framework: high confidence, confirmed across Enexis and VNG.
264 MW of feed-in capacity released by TenneT in West Brabant and the Eindhoven and Tilburg regions (a further 632 MW expected end of 2026 at Geertruidenberg station), while off-take room closes, with the two-way-road distinction: high confidence, TenneT/Enexis primary source.
ACM category 1 congestion easers, batteries qualifying conditionally: high confidence, Enexis primary source.
Green Energy Storage battery, roughly 200 MW and 800 MWh, Sequoia Oosterhout, priority under the ACM framework, operational expected 2027, effect to be assessed in the autumn recalibration: high confidence, TenneT primary source.
Provincial response for Brainport: reported, single regional source, status subject to change.

Source list

Forward internally

Forward this internally if your team is asking: Which queue applies to our project after 1 July? Is the constraint feed-in or off-take? Can an asset qualify as a congestion easer? Which Brabant locations are still worth screening?

Grid Intelligence is published by Wattlas. A new edition follows as soon as the data shifts. To respond or request the underlying source table: [email protected]

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