A thousand households on the Dutch municipalities of Walcheren, Schouwen-Duiveland and Tholen are load-shifting, successfully changing their electricity consumption to times with plenty of solar power. In a joint trial set up by grid operator Stedin and energy companies DELTA Energie and Eneco, participants were asked to make minor changes in their behaviour.

The result was an unmistakable reduction in the peak load: 0.24 kW per household per test moment. With this success in mind, the companies are looking to double this achievement in the same region in the summer of 2026 to a total of 0.5 MW, a volume comparable to the electricity used by five hundred households.

Many of the households in the test area have solar panels, and on sunny days more solar power is produced than is used. At peak times, 50% of the electricity is produced by consumers’ solar panels. Part of this problem can be solved by using power as soon as the sun is out.

This is why Stedin, Eneco and DELTA Energie conducted this trial to learn to whether customers would be willing, for a financial reward, to shift their electricity consumption patterns and so better balance local supply and demand. The trial ran from 1 May to 31 July, and consisted of 20 test moments lasting from 1 to 5 hours. Everyone – including households without solar panels, an electric vehicle or home battery – could take part.