Liander: how a Dutch DSO built its system operations capabilities

Distribution system operator Liander, part of the Alliander Network Company, is seen as a frontrunner in the energy transition. The Dutch DSO has built up its system operations capabilities from scratch to successfully support the new demands brought about by the energy transition. Mark Nigge-Uricher, working with Alliander and responsible for partnerships and business development within System Operations, will share his experiences at Magnus Energy’s event about distribution-level flexibility on 18 September 2025. Why is developing system flexibility at the distribution level important for any DSO? How did Liander start this transition? And what can others learn from its journey?

What was the reason for Liander to start building these capabilities?

Several developments, actually. A few years back, with the introduction of smart meters, Liander gained more insight from all the sensors that became available. Alongside that, there’s the mega trend of electrification. The Netherlands is at the forefront in Europe when it comes to the uptake of decentralised renewables – encouraged by the national government through the net metering scheme.

Then came the Covid-19 crisis, which changed user behaviour while economic growth continued. By that point, the normal pace of planning was overtaken by what was happening around us. Liander and other network operators were often in the news, as this situation had a significant impact on society and economic development.

Of course, Liander has been increasing the grid capacity through placing more cables, building new secondary substations, and so forth. At the same time, it is exploring all other means of increasing the utilisation of the available capacity. That’s why, five years ago, it was decided to set-up System Operations.

Systems Operations was essentially a new function within Liander; how did you start?

We had a clear vision of what we wanted to achieve, an understanding of the capabilities involved and followed it up with a well-defined architecture. We made sure we had strong buy-in from our top management, as this was also, to some extent, an organisational change.

Since this was a green field approach, we needed people who could work towards a strong vision and cope with uncertainty. On the other hand, we also had a collaborative mindset and looked for partnerships to develop the system or processes together. You learn constantly and act based on those learnings. There’s an occasional bump, but you grow stronger from it.

Today, the System Operations department is a highly effective group of people who understand the challenges, accept them, and work to solve them.

Did you look for inspiration or help outside Liander?

From the outset, we adopted a collaborative mindset and sought partners. At the time, we couldn’t find an IT system on the market to support the business process we needed to perform. So, we decided: let’s develop this in-house and make it open source, so other companies facing similar issues can join in, if they wish.

We also collaborated with academic partners and consultancies to understand whether the issues we’re tackling are unique to Liander, typical for the Dutch market, common across Europe, or even globally.

Many DSOs in Europe face similar challenges – what is your advice to them?

In general, I’d say: when you experience more and more events in your grid operations that are approaching the operational limits, and you cannot address them by simply building more assets into your grid, it’s time to develop two new capabilities: Capacity Management and Market Management.

Capacity Management involves understanding how your grid is behaving and being able to take operational measures to adjust capacity where needed – sometimes even running the grid closer to its technical limits. Since DSOs don’t own generation or consumption assets themselves, they must turn to their customers to jointly enable flexibility.

Market Management involves approaching customers within your grid and discussing what flexibilities they have to support capacity management. Part of this new mindset is recognising that customers aren’t just a connection point anymore – they’re people you’ll potentially need to engage with daily to adapt to capacity requirements.

Five years later, where are you in your journey now?

Today, we can predict and forecast how the network behaves, which is the core activity within system operations, managing from two days in advance to near real-time. We can also manage impending congestions and, in many cases, understand how to prevent it. These capabilities have also improved our ability to plan more precisely.

Now that we can predict the behaviour more accurately, we’re able to run operational limits closer to their actual thresholds. In addition, we’ve signed flexibility contracts with customers, enabling us to use their flexibility to support the grid in times of need.

What would be your advice to other DSOs – when should they up their game? 

Every market is different, of course, but I’d say there are a few clear indicators: when customer connections are delayed and waiting lists start to appear; when the uptake in electrification of mobility, heating, or cooling, leads to changes in customer behaviour and increased load profiles; and when more operational events need to be managed by the control centre. These might seem isolated at first, but before long, they’ll multiply – and by then, it’s already too late. In general, I’d say the time to act is now.

What developments do you foresee for the next five to ten years?

I could suggest some predictions for the next five years, but ten is too far ahead – things are moving so quickly. Before 2000, the entire system was relatively stable and predictable but look at what’s changed in the past 25 years. There are constant changes from a regulatory perspective, creating new roles and requiring adaptation. The market continues to evolve, with renewable energy becoming increasingly cheap compared to other sources. The same goes for electric vehicles; they’ve become competitive with their combustion counterparts.

The only thing that I can advise is to remain aware of these developments, to learn continuously, and to stay adaptable. That’s the core competence every DSO needs now.

 What do you think about capability models for DSOs?

Capability models help you assess what’s already out there and identify the different stages of maturity. They provide you a horizon to which you can level, when all around you is open space. You don’t necessarily need to aim for the top tier straight away; it depends on where you are in your transition and the specific characteristics of your market environment. It’s useful to understand what your current position is and the different potential ways available to reach your goals.

Any more tips for others?

Perhaps the energy transition feels overwhelming, but you need to start with small steps to achieve your goals. Every journey starts with the first step – and I believe everyone should start making these brave first steps. The energy transition will affect us all, and every step you take now will serve you well in the future.

Mark will be sharing more about Liander’s journey at our event on distribution-level flexibility on 18 September 2025. If you’d like to be part of the event, reach out to Martin and his team.