Stek victorious for Liander in dispute about qualification electricity connection

Stek has successfully represented distribution system operator Liander in proceedings before the District Court of Gelderland (the District Court) concerning the qualification of an old, previously replaced connection to the electricity grid. The proceedings were initiated by printing company Senefelder Misset (Senefelder), who argued that its original connection had a technical capacity of up to 4.5 MVA and was connected directly to substation Doetinchem (SS Doetinchem) with a 10 kV cable. Senefelder contended that this connection should qualify as a bespoke connection for a single customer, a so-called ‘AC6 connection’.

The District Court concurred with Liander that the mere fact that the 10 kV cable originating directly from SS Doetinchem could technically handle a capacity of 4.5 MVA is insufficient to qualify the original connection as an AC6 connection. The determining factor in this regard is whether Senefelder was the only customer connected to the 10 kV cable from SS Doetinchem. According to the District Court, this is not the case, as the schematic representation of the original connection situation in the vicinity of Senefelder submitted by Liander shows that Senefelder’s original connection was part of an interconnected medium-voltage (MV) ring structure with multiple customers. Liander classifies such a connection to the local MV grid (also referred to as ‘MV ring’) as an ‘AC5 connection’, which, in accordance with the regulated limits for connections to the local MV network, has a maximum connection capacity of 2 MVA.

The judgement of the District Court of 2 August 2023 can be read here (in Dutch).