Shining a light on new ways to price power for TenneT

Energy systems are getting more diverse. Where once there were a few stations predictably pumping power into the grid, now there are wind farms, solar fields, batteries, and private energy supplies. The question is: if power flows change, does pricing need to change too?

TenneT runs the transmission grid in the Netherlands, and wanted to know what would happen if, instead of electricity being priced across a handful of ‘zones’, it was broken up into a galaxy of individual connections, or ‘nodes’. Baringa came on board to get to the bottom of what this major change would mean.

We worked out what TenneT needed to know, and built backwards from there

The topic was complex, and it was vital that everyone on the TenneT team grasp our findings, whatever their area of expertise.

On top of a full report, we ran a series of workshops to embed our insights. We covered not just the pros and cons of nodal pricing, but what it is, how it stacks up against other systems, and what happens when it’s used in the real world. In other words, everything TenneT would need to know to have informed discussions and make solid choices.

We powered a conversation in the Netherlands, and beyond

TenneT used our findings to kick the pricing conversation off with the Dutch regulator. And our work became part of a larger exploration on the topic by ENTSO-E, the European Network of Transmission System Operators. The great energy transition is like a train hurtling towards tracks that haven’t been laid yet, but with our help, TenneT and other operators have the knowledge to stay one step ahead.

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