Energy & utility

The Northern Netherlandsprovinces are the incubation region for clean, reliable and innovative energy. Companies, knowledge institutes and provincial governments collaborate closely in concrete projects to work towards a future-proof energy economy and to develop the North of the Netherlands into THE Energy Valley of Europe. With over €23 billion in energy projects, the region and particularly the Eemshaven, plays a key role. Some concrete current developments include the ‘smart grids’, ‘smart measurement’, E-loading (charging points for electric cars), more and improved wind farms, the conversion to green gas, solar power and energy storage.

The huge economic boost is creating a growth market. As a result of this boost, a changing energy market and energy legislation, major developments are underway in the energy sector. Developments that regularly encounter a legal restriction. This will be even more so after introduction of the “third energy package”, new European legislation, which, to sum up briefly, aims to create more options, more investments and greater security for the European energy market. This means many new laws on a macro level.

Furthermore, there are local developments, the emergence of energy corporations and a lack of case law regarding future developments in the energy market and this in turn gives rise to many legal questions. The answers to these questions are important for the success of the transition from a purely central energy supply to a combination of centralized and decentralized generation and storage of energy.

We are involved with a number of regional centres of expertise, such as the Groningen Centre of Energy Law, the Energie Kenniscentrum of Hanzehogeschool (Hanzehogeschool Energy Knowledge Centre), EnergyValley and the Hansa Energy Corridor. Through the contact and cooperation with these centres, including for legal advice, information is exchanged about all developments within this sector.

The collaboration with the University of Groningen guarantee an even better understanding of what is happening within the energy industry. The membership of NeVER (Dutch Association for Energy and Law) contributes to this.

Our firm assists companies that operate in the energy industry. These are not only the companies that focus ‘purely’ on energy, but also suppliers and housing corporations (who work with energy on a local level), for example. The team members of our Businesses & Government team each have their own input in the issues at stake. They are aware of the complex legislation, the developments and the functioning of the entire energy value chain. This also includes knowledge that is important for all players in the field; the production, distribution, storage and supply companies. In other words, an integrated approach.