Annual summary for 2021
1st quarter
4 February – The 'System study of energy infrastructure in the province of South Holland' provides an outline of future energy supply: from homes to industry, from energy demand to supply. The study was presented to the commissioning parties Stedin, The Port of Rotterdam Authority and the province of South Holland.
24 February – The Supervisory Board appointed Koen Bogers as new CEO and Trudy Onland as new COO of Stedin Group. Koen Bogers (51) succeeded Marc van der Linden who stepped down as of 1 June. Trudy Onland (46) succeeded Judith Koole.
16 March – On the north side of the port of Vlissingen, 1.5 kilometres of pipes were laid under Quarleshaven in the Sloe area in a single day. This underground electricity highway will make it possible to connect new solar and wind energy projects to the electricity grid.
23 March – Stedin Group successfully issued a perpetual subordinated hybrid bond loan of €500 million.
26 April – With its new Stedin Area Analysis Tool, Stedin supports municipalities in the heat transition. This tool calculates the optimum natural gas alternative for heating homes.
2nd quarter
25 June – Stedin Group's shareholders increase the grid operator's equity by €200 million in the form of cumulative preference shares. Stedin's equity needs to be strengthened to enable it to continue to make all the investments in the energy transition and to maintain our grids.
1 July – The Regional Energy Strategies were delivered. The plans have a substantial impact on the electricity grid. The agreed climate goal for sustainable onshore generation is attainable if all parties start now on its execution.
16 July – 208 technical talents who were trained in 2021 by our In-house training school received their highly coveted senior secondary vocational education (MBO) diplomas.
3rd quarter
2 September – Stedin starts construction of an additional distribution substation on the Dordtse Kil business park. The maximum capacity of the electricity grid had been reached owing to the rapid development of large solar roofs on industrial premises in the area. An additional substation, which is expected to be completed in 2025, is required in order to increase capacity.
20 September – The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) published its method decisions for the regional grid managers and TenneT. The grid managers called for changes in the existing regulatory model because it is insufficiently aligned with the tasks of the grid managers in facilitating the energy transition. Despite several clear concessions by the ACM, these decisions do not yet sufficiently provide for what is required.
1 October – Stedin was proclaimed the 'Best vitality-promoting business for technical staff 2021’ ('Vitaalste Vakbedrijf 2021'). With this award, employers' association WENB recognises organisations that undertake extensive efforts to ensure their employees remain deployable for work in a fit and vital manner.
4th quarter
12 October – The high-voltage grid in Utrecht reached the limit for feed-in capacity. As a result, there is temporarily no room for new applications for the transmission of green electricity from wind or solar parks or large solar roofs, for example. TenneT will adapt the grid in the coming years to create more room in the grid, by placing smart transformers and through other measures.
12 October – Owing to a complex medium-voltage failure in the municipality of Stichtse Vecht, 5,420 customers were left without power. The failure lasted for more than 13 hours. It was caused by a defective cable.
28 October – Our CFO, Danny Benima, signed the Diversity at Work charter of the SER (Social Economic Council). We want our workforce to be just as diverse as our environment and endeavour to recognise and respect visible and invisible differences between employees.
1 November – We increasingly involve society when we assess investments in the energy system. Our draft investment plan 2022 was published, enabling national and regional parties to share their observations and questions about it with us. The investments are necessary to keep our grid at the current high level and to achieve the complex challenge of the energy transition.
9 November – Stedin Group successfully issued a green bond for the second time. The €500 million raised is linked to investments by Stedin Group in sustainable projects.
4 December – The Dutch current affairs programme Nieuwsuur produced an item about staff shortages in the energy transition. They visited our In-house training school to see what we do to train technical staff. Koen Bogers: 'The work package has doubled compared with five years ago'. In Stedin's opinion, a master plan needs to be developed to motivate young people to study science and technology subjects.
31 December – The last day on which the grid manager in the province of Zeeland carried the name Enduris. In 2017, Stedin Group acquired Enduris and the energy grid activities of DNWG. On 31 December, the collaboration had reached the stage in which we started jointly carrying out staff services and grid management activities under a single name: Stedin.
