Appliances in the home are likely to break down due to very high voltage in the electricity network | RTL News

The voltage on the low-voltage network, the household electricity network, is very high in many places in our country on sunny days. According to Netbeheer Nederland, the number of reports of overvoltage has tripled in the past three years. Around 100,000 smart meters have reported overvoltage or peak voltage. A previous analysis by RTL Nieuws showed so-called voltage problems in 30,000 postcodes.

The solar panels are almost always the culprit. On a sunny day, they make sure to push a lot of electricity through the cables at the same time. This causes the voltage to rise, often much higher than the required voltage of 220 to 230 volts. At 253 volts you are talking about peak voltage. To prevent equipment in the house from failing, the solar panel inverters automatically switch off. This was laid down by the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) in the Network Act.

peak voltage

An inverter is a device that connects to your solar panels and ensures that the direct current produced by the solar panels is converted into alternating current that all the electronic devices in your home use. Your inverter protects your devices from voltage peaks, but if the inverter is turned off, you won’t be able to provide energy and you’ll lose money. Longer voltage peaks shorten the life of your electrical appliances.

Anthony Burdock from Zuidbroek in Groningen can discuss this. He plugged a voltmeter into his socket and it read 253 volts. “That’s too high,” he says. His new washing machine broke down after just two years. His dishwasher, stove and laptop also broke down much earlier than they normally would.

“The equipment suffers anyway”

Electrical equipment certainly suffers from high voltages, says Pavol Bauer, professor of energy conversion and storage at TU Delft. He conducts research into the lifetime and reliability of electrical components such as switches in televisions and dishwashers, for example.

“We have measured that with a 10 percent higher voltage, the life of the devices is 15 percent shorter. This applies, for example, to power supplies and transformers. With a 20 percent higher voltage, it becomes 30 percent shorter.”

Fortunately, the voltage is not high all the time. In addition, inverters are turned off at high voltage to protect our devices. However, it is better for the life of our devices to keep the voltage in the 220-230 volt range. The solution: drive more thick cables into the ground and build more transformer houses. Grid operators are already busy working on this, but it may take years.

Insert the battery

Batteries could also help absorb the peaks. “Such a battery could help if it is properly controlled,” says Bauer. “It would start charging when the voltage is too high.” Enexis, the grid operator responsible for the power grid in Zuidbroek, has now opted for this solution.

“We have created a live approach to these problems. In some cases, it can take at least ten years before the local network is strengthened. In Zuidbroek, the transformer station is overloaded due to generating too much power on sunny days. This causes power outages. The electricity has been turned off several times. To prevent the neighbourhood from experiencing continuous power outages, we are installing a battery next to the station as a temporary solution,” says Maartje Vermeer, spokesman for Enexis.

Overvoltage protection

Can you also do something yourself? It’s best to use power when it’s available, says Henri Lutens of the Federated Electrical Engineering Association at Vedette. If that’s not enough, there’s another option: expand your meter cabinet with a surge protector. “It prevents things from breaking. When you have a voltage peak, which can also be the case with lightning, it diverts the current to ground.”

You install such a fuse to protect your electronics from extreme voltages from outside. Because, as Lutens says, high voltages can also be caused by the presence of several solar panels on the roof down the street. So it is not necessary to have solar panels yourself.

This overvoltage protection helps you prevent voltages from rising to a point where the electronics can no longer handle them. However, the device is not cheap: a few hundred euros. And then it still has to be installed in your meter cabinet. And if you have a meter cabinet from before 2020, you will also have to replace it and you will quickly lose 2,000 euros.

get a place

“And you need space. If you have an old meter cabinet, you need to replace it entirely. That’s a lot of money, yes, but what does it cost if your electronics no longer work? To me, that’s an extra amount of money. Safety prevents breaking equipment that you have no influence over.”

According to Lutens, we will use more and more electronic devices in the Netherlands that are sensitive to overvoltages. We will also supply more and more energy. “With solar panels or batteries, maybe even cars. So there is a need to protect your installations better. I think this overvoltage protection should be standard in new meter cabinets.”

Big differences in the Netherlands

Most voltage problems occur in the West Friesland region (North Holland): In the municipalities of Cogenland, Middelburg and Drechterland, 30 percent of the postcodes in the table show voltage problems. There are also areas with many voltage problems in the Betuwe region and the northern Veluwe region.

Below you can see the differences in the Netherlands: