What is going on?

State Secretary De Bat (Climate and Green Growth) confirmed it: the power grid around the city of Utrecht is being locked. This concerns the area between Breukelen, Vianen, and Driebergen, which includes the city of Utrecht, Nieuwegein, and surrounding municipalities. All new applications for a connection or capacity upgrade will be placed on a waiting list after July 1st. This also applies to private individuals who want to upgrade their home connection from 1-phase to 3-phase.

The cause is structural: the grid is overloaded, particularly during the evening peak. Two new high-voltage substations need to be built—one near Breukelen and one north of Utrecht. These may not be ready until 2031. The municipality of Utrecht estimates the economic damage of the total freeze at 75 to 225 million euros per year.

What does this mean?

The connection freeze only blocks new connections and capacity upgrades. Existing connections will not be disconnected, of course. If you already have power, you keep it. And that is exactly the point. Installing a heat pump in an existing home is, in most cases, not a matter of needing a new connection or an upgrade. It is a matter of choosing the right heat pump.

Weheat heat pumps work on a standard 1-phase connection. That is the connection that the vast majority of existing Dutch homes already have.  

Weheat heat pumps can actively adjust themselves during times when the grid is at capacity. This is unique for a heat pump. In several neighborhood-level projects, Weheat heat pumps can already communicate with the smart meter via P1 Smart Loadbalancing, automatically adjusting the power demand per unit. You don't have to do a thing.

Your home as an energy buffer

The smart software layer ‘Weheat Intelligence’ goes even further. The software learns when electricity is cheap or readily available and then charges your home's thermal mass—floors, walls, and the domestic hot water tank. That heat storage system can reach up to 56 kWh in an average 1950s terraced house.

The result: during the evening peak, when the grid is under the most strain, the heat pump barely needs to run. The heat stored during the day does the work. You stay comfortable. The grid gets a break.

For example: a Weheat user from Zeist saw his energy costs drop by 29%. His self-consumption of solar power increased from 17% to 51%. And he doesn't have to do anything for it. The heat pump handles it automatically.

Weheat heat pumps are not just smart grid ready, they are ‘Grid Active’. Other heat pumps wait for a signal from the grid. Weheat anticipates it. Using 4G connectivity and 121 real-time parameters, the heat pump adjusts itself without any intervention from the resident or installer.

Always seek advice from an installer

Single-phase works fine for most existing homes. However, there are situations where it is more complicated. For higher power requirements (from approximately 7 kW), in poorly insulated homes with high heat loss, or when combining a charging station and an induction cooktop simultaneously, single-phase may be insufficient. Always ask for advice. A professional installer check is always a smart move. Every home is different. Proper coordination beforehand prevents disappointment later. A certified Weheat installer will assess what fits your specific situation.

What does this mean for the Utrecht region?

Of the approximately 800,000 people in the congestion area, many think they can no longer make their homes more sustainable. In many cases, that perception is incorrect. The connection freeze affects those who want to upgrade their capacity, not those who can manage with their existing connection. That applies to a large portion of Utrecht's housing stock. Terraced houses, semi-detached homes, and linked houses from the sixties and seventies almost all already have a single-phase connection. And they have concrete floors and domestic hot water tanks that retain heat.

“When I open the newspaper, the energy transition sometimes seems like a list of what isn't possible. But at Weheat, we always look at what is possible. The connection freeze is no reason to wait. It is a reason to make the right choice. We build heat pumps for a world with a congested power grid. That has always been our starting point.” - Liselotte Graas, Co-founder Weheat

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Do you live in the Utrecht region and want to know if a heat pump is right for your home? An official Weheat installer in your area will check what is possible. Free and without obligation. ‍

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