Working Paper
Overlooked factors in transparent hosting capacity calculations
09 May 2025

Authors: VANIN, Marta; BECKSTEDDE, Ellen

The EU Electricity Market Design reform requires transmission and distribution system operators to provide transparent information on the available grid capacity for new connections, commonly referred to as hosting capacity maps. These maps aim to inform the decision-making of new grid users, as well as renewable energy installers and flexibility service providers, thereby (safely and reliably) maximising grid utilisation and accelerating the energy transition. A key assumption influencing the available grid capacity is the definition of hosting capacity itself, of which currently no consensus seems to exist, both in academia and in practice. This paper examines five publicly available hosting capacity maps alongside relevant hosting capacity literature and identifies seven factors where different assumptions are applied to hosting capacity quantification. Furthermore, we qualitatively assess the potential impact of overlooking these factors in hosting capacity calculations (i.e., the tendency to over- or underestimate available grid capacity). In this way, we aim to contribute to the discussions on the harmonised definition and pan-European overview of grid hosting capacity, which are currently being developed under the EU Action Plan for Grids.
logo cadmus Read it on Cadmus Download in open access

LATEST FSR PUBLICATIONS

Policy Brief
In December 2024, in her mission letter to Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas, President von der Leyen encouraged drafting a plan for an ambitious European High-Speed Rail Network to help connect EU [...]
Article
In this article, we contribute to the legal scholarship on the interaction between EU data governance and electricity legislation, analysing the impact the Data Act could have on the sharing [...]
Policy Brief
On 14 July 2021, the European Commission adopted a series of legislative proposals implementing its plan to achieve climate neutrality in the EU by 2050. These included an intermediate target [...]

Join our community

To meet, discuss and learn in the channel that suits you best.

scroll

top