The Dutch Grid in 2050 — Part 2 - CleanTechnica

The article "The Dutch Grid in 2050 — Part 2" from CleanTechnica explores a realistic projection of the Netherlands' electricity landscape in 2050, grounded in current technological trends rather than speculative breakthroughs. The author emphasizes the difficulty of long-term energy predictions due to policy changes and economic fluctuations, dismissing futuristic concepts like orbital solar satellites or imminent fusion power. Instead, the focus is on incremental improvements, particularly in battery technology, which is expected to become ubiquitous and cost-effective for many applications by 2050. The anticipated final energy demand is around 450 TWh annually, which could theoretically be met by various energy sources, including fossil fuels, hydrogen, or renewable electricity, though the energy costs of producing hydrogen are not accounted for. A key feature of the future Dutch grid will be the rise of prosumers—approximately 5 million households equipped with solar PV and home batteries, alongside thousands of farmers and businesses adopting similar setups. This distributed generation will be complemented by commercial renewable power