Tibo Energy and Unica fire station case study wins Grid Congestion Innovation Competition SME 2026

While over 14,000 Dutch businesses are waiting for a heavier grid connection, a fire station in Zeist has cut gas consumption by 90 per cent without any grid expansion. The case study by technical services provider Unica Building Services and Tibo Energy won the Grid Congestion Innovation Competition SME 2026 (Netcongestie Innovatie Competitie MKB 2026) at the National Grid Congestion Day in Arnhem this week. The expert jury included representatives from grid operation, academia and industry, among them Alliander, VNO-NCW and Eindhoven University of Technology.

The jury assessed entries not only on technology and scalability, but above all on a practical question: how can businesses make better use of their existing grid connection without adding complexity? According to the jury, the Unica and Tibo approach stands out because of the broad applicability of the energy management system and the way real-time price signals are automatically translated into energy consumption decisions every five minutes. The result: peak loads are spread more evenly and more headroom is created on the existing grid.

Gas consumption in Zeist down by 90 per cent

The solution is deployed at a fire station in Zeist, where Unica coordinates heat pumps, solar panels, battery storage and charging points in real time. The site is in the province of Utrecht, where a temporary connection moratorium due to grid congestion takes effect across large parts of the region from July. “More and more projects stall because the connection simply cannot be upgraded,” says Edwin Koers of Unica. “What many building managers don’t realise is that their building is essentially a thermal battery. When a heat pump heats the building while energy is cheap, that warmth is stored in the walls and floors. The moment the grid is under strain, you can scale the heat pump back. The stored heat stays in the building for hours, much like a phone doesn’t go flat the moment you unplug it after charging. In Zeist, that’s how we brought gas consumption down by 90 per cent without a grid upgrade.”

A blueprint for thousands of buildings

According to Tibo Energy, the Zeist case shows that many existing buildings still have spare capacity within their current connection. That matters at a time when a growing number of regions, including Utrecht, Gelderland and recently parts of Eindhoven, face a connection moratorium due to grid congestion. “The existing grid connection is not fully utilised most of the time,” says Remco Eikhout, CEO of Tibo Energy. “By coordinating building systems more intelligently, there is often more headroom within existing capacity than people expect. At the fire station in Zeist, we demonstrated that decarbonisation is still possible in regions with a connection moratorium, without necessarily requiring a heavier connection.”

Expert jury Grid Congestion Innovation Competition

The expert jury of the Grid Congestion Innovation Competition SME 2026 consisted of Joris de Groot (Alliander), Erik te Brake (VNO-NCW), Auke Hoekstra (TU/e, NEON Research), Jelmer Kalff (Powercrumbs, 2025 winner) and Max Oosterhuis (Loyens & Loeff).