Energy transition

Energy transition is an important part of the ESG spectrum and the topic is increasingly a priority for more and more organisations. Parties may be primarily driven by an intrinsic need for corporate social responsibility, by increasingly stringent compliance requirements and challenging climate goals, or by a combination of such considerations. In any event, the legal implications of the energy transition for these parties are complex and far-reaching.

Switching to alternative energy sources, congestion on the electricity grid, opting for an electric vehicle fleet and setting up a matching charging infrastructure, reducing CO2 emissions through changes in business operations - these are just some of the issues faced by organisations in numerous industries.

To assist clients with the opportunities and challenges of each phase of the energy transition, we have set up a multidisciplinary hub in which specialists in areas such as IT, market regulation, competition law, real estate and spatial planning and corporate law, and the law of legal entities work closely together.

Invest-NL and Kennedy Van der Laan launch energy hub toolkit

In cooperation with Invest-NL and N/P Notarial Partners, we have developed a legal toolkit to help companies set up energy hubs, enabling them to make more efficient use of the overloaded electricity grid. 

Invest-NL aims to accelerate the energy transition by removing financing bottlenecks. Companies account for half of the CO2 emissions of the built environment, but making business parks more sustainable stalls due to a lack of grid capacity. Accelerating the energy transition requires smarter use of existing infrastructure. By developing this legal toolkit, we saw an opportunity to provide a concrete solution for companies.

The legal toolkit contains templates, now made available for the first time, that allow companies with a shortage, or surplus, of grid capacity to set up an energy hub. The toolkit provides legal guidance for companies, when entering into a group contract with the grid operator, to make agreements among themselves to jointly use and invest in sustainability, for example in energy storage. Financing for such investments is often too costly for a single company, but through a collective it is now within reach.

Companies can download the toolkit for free from the website of Invest-NL.

Congestion management through a 'virtual grid'

In many places in the Netherlands, the demand for electricity currently exceeds the transmission capacity on the electricity grid. As a result, companies that wanted to establish themselves at Schiphol Trade Park were unable to arrange the transport of electricity for their connection. This grid congestion calls for smart and innovative solutions. We advised Schiphol Area Development Company (SADC) about the legal form of a solution.

In this pilot, a collective solution was realised in which several companies share the energy transport capacity of grid operator Liander, by creating a 'virtual grid' and using smart metering and control. This innovative solution is also committed to using energy from renewable sources, instead of using fossil fuels. Watch the short explanatory video here (Dutch).

Within this cooperation, we advised SADC about the possibilities within the regulatory framework and the contractual set-up and conducted the negotiations with grid operator Liander, the participating companies and the IT supplier. We designed the corporate structure for the cooperation of the participating companies. SADC was assisted by Astrid Sixma, Quirine Tjeenk Willink and Jan-Berend Möller, among others.

PepsiCo: Making a chips factory more sustainable, aiming for a 98% CO2 reduction

PepsiCo's chips factory, which for instance produces Lays' chips, ran largely on fossil fuels and, as part of its CO2 reduction drive PepsiCo has joined forces with Eneco to electrify the chips factory. Using innovative thermal storage ('Kraftblocks'), the factory will be efficiently powered by renewable wind energy.

This electrification project is the first in the Dutch food industry to be implemented in this way. Ultimately, PepsiCo aims to achieve a 98% CO2 reduction this way. In the context of ETS (Emissions Trading Systems), natural gas-fired plants had to be phased out as well. Watch the video of this project here.

Astrid Sixma, Laura Brederveld and Quirine Tjeenk Willink assisted PepsiCo in this project to design the agreements with Eneco and Liander.

Fastned: nationwide network of charging stations enables increase in electric driving in the Netherlands

To enable the development of electric driving, the Minister of Infrastructure and Public Works introduced the possibility of obtaining licences to build and operate charging stations for electric cars at motorway service areas from 2012. Fastned was one of the few parties willing to invest in a market that was still nascent at that time.

However, several oil companies and petrol stations opposed the arrival of charging stations by initiating legal proceedings. To protect the petrol stations' position, the government also refused to allow shops at those charging stations. That refusal has been found to be unlawful by both the administrative and civil courts. Despite the opposition, Fastned has since succeeded in rolling out a nationwide network of charging stations along motorways in the Netherlands and now also operates in several other European countries.

Leon Mensink, Christoph Jeloschek and Julia Siskina assist Fastned in various administrative and civil proceedings concerning the scarce licences for its charging stations, the charging stations at existing petrol stations and the possibility of adding shops to its charging stations.

Solar parks accelerate energy transition

We have assisted various parties involved in the development of solar parks. Both with regard to obtaining the necessary connection, transport capacity and subsidy under the Sustainable Energy Production (Stimulation) and Climate Transition Decree and in proceedings instituted by local residents or interest groups that found the development undesirable. Leon Mensink has assisted for instance Zuidbroek Energie B.V. and several solar parks co-developed by Sunvest B.V. in proceedings before various courts, the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State and the Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal.