As the Netherlands continues to grapple with increasing electricity demand, grid bottlenecks occurring in more cities, Dutch network developer Alliander has issued tenders to contractors for 182 distribution substations.
Four contractors have been commissioned by the network company to deliver and build the electricity distribution, switching and regulating stations.
The stations will be built over the next eight years, spread over Alliander’s working area.
The tenders value an investment of over €400 million ($439.4 million) with the first shovel going into the ground in October this year.
The four contractors who will be working per region include:
• Part of North Holland and part of South Holland: Construction combination K_Dekker – Tervoort
• Amsterdam-Gooi: Strukton Civiel BV
• Gelderland (Betuwe, Achterhoek and Veluwe): BAM Infra BV
• Friesland, Flevoland and the rest of Gelderland: Friso Civiel BV
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Commenting on the tender was Alliander chief operating officer Marlies Visser, who stated: “Large tenders of this kind fit in with Alliander’s approach of connecting ourselves with our partners in the chain for several years and with large work packages.
“This allows us to scale up shoulder to shoulder, increase technical work capacity and innovate together.”
Public space is required for the 182 stations and many permits are required.
According to the company, intensive cooperation is also being sought with all parties involved, including municipalities, environmental services and landowners, in order to carry out the necessary studies, accelerate permit processes and acquire locations that are required for the electricity stations.
Based on modular construction, the works will involve both expansion of existing stations and construction of new stations. In the hopes of expediting lead times, stations will be built by contractors and external suppliers according to a fixed design.
This is the second major tender that Alliander has recently awarded to contractors. Last month saw the final award for the largest tender process ever completed for the company, with an investment of more than €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion).
The Netherlands has been grappling with a grid at capacity for more than a year now, with frequently occurring bottlenecks barring connections. The latest, according to Alliander-owned DSO Liander, occurred earlier in July in Flevoland and Gelderland, as well as South Holland.
