Op-ed by Taco Engelaar, Managing Director at Neara.
Across Europe, thousands of businesses are trying to do the right thing. They’re switching to electric vehicles, installing heat pumps, electrifying operations, drafting up ESG commitments, and investing in clean energy.
Slowly but surely, many are encountering an obstacle beyond their control – the grid.
The grid is sometimes spoken about as if it’s an abstract concept. Some invisible force humming in the background. ‘Connecting to the grid’ sounds almost like uploading to the cloud: limitless, effortless, automatic.
But in reality, the grid is deeply physical. It’s infrastructure. And like any infrastructure, it needs maintenance, upgrades, and sometimes expansion.
It’s a reality known all too well by the more than 14,000 businesses on a waiting list to connect to the congested power grid in the Netherlands. It’s a country with enviable clean energy production, but its infrastructure hasn’t kept pace. Now, even installing new charging stations for electric company cars has become a lengthy process.
But the Netherlands isn’t an outlier. If anything, it’s a frontrunner. It hit gridlock early precisely because it moved fast on renewables. And that makes it a warning sign for the rest of Europe.
Grid bottlenecks
Because this isn’t just a Dutch dilemma. Globally, grid bottlenecks are keeping 1,700GW of renewable energy projects stuck in the queue. The transition to clean energy isn’t just about generation; it’s about transmission. And that’s where Europe risks falling short.
The International Energy Agency estimates that for every dollar spent on power generation, just half a dollar is spent on the grids needed to transmit it. The ratio is faulty. We’re pouring investment into power supply, while underinvesting in the very systems that connect it to homes, businesses, and vehicles. It’s putting the cart before the horse, like building a fleet of electric cars and releasing them onto untarmacked roads.
The consequences are already visible. In the Netherlands, network operators have begun rationing power. A national campaign now urges consumers to charge bikes outside of peak hours. Households are being asked to adopt hybrid heating systems – relying partly on gas – because the grid can’t support full electrification.
Business impact
For businesses, the impact is just as sharp. Officials and companies warn that lengthy waits for grid connections are holding back economic growth and forcing firms to rethink investment plans. After all, why would an investor look at a country where clean energy projects are stalled, electrification is delayed, and grid access is uncertain, and conclude this is a safe home for their money?
Work is underway to address these challenges, including heavy investment in grid upgrades and the adoption of technologies like digital modelling. But the economic toll is still mounting.
And as businesses across Europe adopt AI tools, demand for data centres is surging. These facilities are energy-intensive, and without faster grid reform, their power needs risk being met by fossil fuels, not renewables. It’s a new layer of gridlock, with real consequences for companies trying to modernise responsibly.
So what’s the solution? Building new infrastructure is part of it, but it’s costly, slow, and often unpopular. In the Netherlands, some say the biggest barrier to easing grid congestion is now securing public backing to build.
Unlocking capacity
That’s why we need solutions that unlock capacity in the here and now. Our recent analysis of the UK and Ireland’s power networks found that nearly three-quarters of lines could be carrying more electricity.
In some areas, that figure rose to 93%. These findings, based on physics-enabled AI modelling, show that vast sections of the grid are being cautiously underused. By extracting more from existing assets across Europe, we can speed up connections, reduce bottlenecks, and deliver clean energy at a fraction of the cost and disruption of new builds.
Net zero needs buy-in from business owners. But companies trying to modernise are facing delays, uncertainty, and infrastructure that can’t deliver.
We need to stop treating the grid as background noise. It’s the backbone of the transition. Smarter use of infrastructure and faster connections are what will keep Europe competitive.
Because when the grid stalls, it’s not just energy that gets stuck. It’s every business trying to do the right thing.
Learn more about Neara at www.neara.com.
