Han Slootweg is an expert on the subject of “smart electricity grids”. “The challenges Enexis is facing are enormous,” Slootweg said in the press statement announcing his appointment. “The demand for transmission capacity on the electricity grid is growing rapidly. We’re doing everything in our power to scale up production and expand our grids faster in order to offer our (future) customers perspective on a new connection or expansion of their capacity.”

The growing supply of solar panel and wind turbine energy is causing congestion on the power grid. Companies like Enexis, as well as Alliander and Stedin, are making substantial investments in expanding the energy infrastructure to combat this congestion. Despite these efforts, this network congestion is causing long waiting lists for connections to the power grid. Companies that want to become more sustainable and stop using gas often need a higher-power grid connection, but are unable to get one in good time.

Jos Nijhuis, chair of Enexis’ Supervisory Board, hopes that Slootweg will be able to help Enexis solve the grid congestion and speed up its sustainability efforts: “In his previous positions and in his role at the TU in Eindhoven, Han has demonstrated that he has a vast amount of knowledge, expertise and vision to take on the challenging role of COO.”

In 1998, Slootweg graduated with honors from TU Delft, where he also obtained his doctorate five years later. He went on to work at Enexis, the energy distribution company for electricity and natural gas for the provinces of North Brabant and Limburg, among others. Slootweg has been a part-time professor in Smart Grids at TU/e since 2009.