Grid Intelligence

The north is the mirror image of the congested south

Everywhere else in the Wattlas atlas so far, the binding constraint has been off-take: the grid is full for drawing power. In Groningen and Drenthe it flips. Across the service areas Wattlas sampled on 5 July 2026, the transmission grid generally has off-take headroom while feed-in is the binding constraint, with Eemshaven the exception that has room in both directions. This is the solar-and-wind north, where the wall a new project runs into is usually the direction of delivering power back to the grid, not drawing it. This edition covers the two provinces together because their grids and their story hang together, but keeps every data claim separate by province and by grid operator: Groningen is served by Enexis, Drenthe by Enexis with Rendo covering part of the Hoogeveen area.

Signal #1 Groningen: feed-in is the wall, with the biggest queues at Delfzijl and Veendam

In Groningen the transmission off-take layer mostly has room while feed-in is the binding constraint. The largest feed-in waiting lists sit at Delfzijl (Weiwerd), about 83.1 MW, on an industrial-scale grid, and at Veendam, about 62.6 MW, where TenneT's feed-in layer is at its most constrained level. These are regional-capacity constraints as much as transmission ones: at Delfzijl the transmission layer itself has room in both directions, so the 83.1 MW queue reflects regional feed-in capacity that the northern build-out has to catch up with, rather than a transmission wall.

For a solar or wind developer, Groningen is not closed, it is directional. The off-take headroom that would matter to a factory does nothing for a generation project, and the feed-in queue is where the real waiting is.

Source: Netbeheer Nederland capaciteitskaart, sampled 5 July 2026.

Signal #2 Eemshaven is the exception within the exception, with room and the biggest build-out

Eemshaven stands apart from the rest of the north. The capacity map shows it with room in both directions, an off-take queue of about 0.1 MW and a feed-in queue of about 0 MW, on a grid built for industrial and offshore-landing scale. It also carries the largest single piece of the northern reinforcement: a new TenneT 380/110 kV station at Eemshaven Oostpolderweg (indicative 2034 to 2037), alongside Farmsum Oosterlaan (2032 to 2035), both TenneT transmission projects on the capacity map projects layer. Enexis' own 31 October 2025 reinforcement announcement adds regional capacity across Groningen underneath that transmission build.

Eemshaven is where a large industrial or offshore-linked load can still find room in a province that is otherwise feed-in-locked, which is exactly why the heaviest grid investment is going there. For a site search, it is the one northern location where both directions are open today.

Source: capaciteitskaart, sampled 5 July 2026 (MW figures and the TenneT projects layer); Enexis regional build from Enexis, 31 October 2025.

Signal #3 Drenthe follows the same flip, with the largest feed-in queue at Emmen

Drenthe shows the same directional pattern: off-take room on the transmission layer, feed-in at its most constrained level. The largest feed-in waiting list sits at Emmen (Bargermeer), about 71.1 MW, with Norg (Zeyerveld) around 46.3 MW. Off-take is not entirely clear at the regional level, though: Hoogeveen carries a real off-take queue of about 44.5 MW on the regional grid despite the transmission off-take headroom, and Hoogeveen sits on an Enexis and Rendo boundary, with a Rendo project for a new high-voltage station (off-take 2028, feed-in 2030).

Drenthe rewards a location-specific read. The province-level "off-take has room" holds on the transmission layer, but Hoogeveen shows a regional off-take queue and a different grid operator, so the screening answer there is not the same as the provincial headline.

Source: capaciteitskaart, sampled 5 July 2026.

What we are watching for #009

Three signals to watch heading into the next edition:

• The northern TenneT build-out. Eemshaven Oostpolderweg (2034 to 2037), Farmsum Oosterlaan (2032 to 2035) and Vierverlaten (2034 to 2036) set the feed-in horizon for the whole north. These three top out in 2037; the 2039 date that appears in the wider project data belongs to other, separate works in the same programme, not to these stations.
• The Emmen and Delfzijl feed-in queues. They are the largest in the north; whether they move as Enexis regional expansions land is the real test.
• The Rendo boundary at Hoogeveen. A different operator on a new high-voltage station is a reminder that the northern grid is not one map.

Sources and confidence

Every MW figure on this page comes from the official Netbeheer Nederland capacity map, sampled 5 July 2026 and carrying that peildatum; existing, required and queued capacity are the map's own published per-service-area figures. Each figure is stated with its direction: the 83.1 MW (Delfzijl), 62.6 MW (Veendam), 71.1 MW (Emmen) and 46.3 MW (Norg) queues are feed-in, while the 0.1 MW (Eemshaven) and 44.5 MW (Hoogeveen) queues are off-take. All six were independently re-verified against source in the July 2026 claim audit. The directional flip (off-take room, feed-in the binding constraint) is confirmed across the sampled areas in both provinces, with Eemshaven the documented exception that has room in both directions. One project date was corrected before publication: the Vierverlaten expansion is commissioned between 2034 and 2036 per TenneT's own project news, and an earlier draft placed it in a wider 2032 to 2039 window. That 2039 date is real but belongs to other works in the same northern programme, not to Vierverlaten, Eemshaven Oostpolderweg or Farmsum Oosterlaan, which top out in 2037. The Enexis build-out figures come from Enexis' own press release of 31 October 2025; its ontwerp-investeringsplan 2026 is listed below as background only, was not read verbatim, and no figure on this page rests on it. The remaining TenneT project dates are from the capacity map projects layer, all indicative operator timelines, not committed dates. Grid operator coverage: Groningen is served by Enexis in all sampled areas; Drenthe by Enexis with Rendo covering part of the Hoogeveen area, confirmed via the capacity map rnb field and a Rendo project record. Every data claim above is kept separate by province and by operator.

Sources

1. Netbeheer Nederland Capaciteitskaart
2. TenneT Projectnieuws: Voorbereiding uitbreiding hoogspanningsstation Vierverlaten van start
3. Enexis Persbericht, 7 miljard euro investering (31 oktober 2025)
4. Enexis Ontwerp-investeringsplan 2026 Enexis Netbeheer (PDF)