Working together on a smarter energy system
Grid congestion inhibits sustainability and social development. Residential construction, mobility and business activity get stuck on limited grid capacity. Smart Energy Hubs offer a solution. Smart organization of local energy generation, storage and use relieves the grid and creates new opportunities for regions and businesses.
The nine Regional Development Companies are working together on the development and realization of Smart Energy Hubs. We connect national ambitions with regional implementation and ensure that energy hubs are not only conceived, but actually realized.
Our ambition towards 2030
By 2030, the ROMs are actively contributing to a strong decentralized energy system and thereby accelerating the energy transition. We are developing energy hubs that:
- can be practically organized
- financeable and investable
- be scalable and replicable
- demonstrable work in practice
No vistas, but feasible solutions. This is how energy hubs grow into a structural part of the Dutch energy system.
From experiment to applicable solution
Within the national Incentive Program Energy Hubs, the ROMs focus on the innovation track: developing and testing new hub concepts, making complex solutions practical and translating pilots into scalable models. No blueprint from behind the desk, but learning in practice - together with regional partners.
We are working on innovative themes such as: grid-aware energy sharing, complex GTO constructions (roadmap ACM), multi-commodity hubs (electricity, heat, hydrogen) and area-based approaches. For each theme we are taking the next concrete step towards realization.
Our approach
Our approach is based on regional ownership and national connection.
1. Hub Development & Communities of Practice.
Developing and testing in practice
For new hub concepts, we bring together regional initiators, pilots and experts in national Communities of Practice. Here we develop and test concepts, deepen regional initiatives and enrich projects with organizational, legal, financial and technical expertise.
For each theme we determine what is needed now to make a concept feasible and scalable. In this way we arrive at solutions that work in practice and can be replicated in other regions.
2. Product development
Standardize to accelerate
Many initiatives run into similar legal, organizational, technical and financial issues. In national scrums, regional triggers and specialists are jointly developing reusable solutions, such as organizational models, legal formats, financial structures and technical applications.
The results are recorded in case studies and concrete action perspectives, so that they are widely applicable. We do this in cooperation with the national Energy Hubs Knowledge Platform.
3. Knowledge Sharing
From experience to implementation power
Scaling up requires targeted knowledge sharing and capacity building. Therefore, the ROMs organize webinars and meetings, develop training - such as the hub director training - and share knowledge via energyhubs.nl.
In 2026, the ROMs are organizing a three-day Energy Hub development training course for start-ups and experts. This is how we strengthen the implementation power of regions, governments and market parties.
4. Funding
Strong business cases as a foundation
An energy hub must be technically and financially sound. That is why we strengthen investability with a standard business case format (BCKA), support for business plans and the development of appropriate funding instruments and funds.
This is how we increase the scalability and market access of energy hubs.
5. Super-regional cooperation
Regional ownership, national coherence
The mandate lies in the region. Regional ROMs map initiatives and guide projects. ROM-Netherlands organizes the national connection between regions, stimulates coherence and further drives development.
The SEH core team - with project managers from Oost NL, BOM, InnovationQuarter and Impuls Zeeland and the secretary of ROM-Nederland - coordinates the joint effort and maintains national contact with the Ministry of Climate and Green Growth (KGG).
Three-day Energy Hub Development Training
From the ROMs' Smart Energy Hubs program (ROM-Nederland), the ROMs are organizing the three-day Energy Hub development training in 2026. In total, we will offer four three-day trainings in 2026. The first two trainings will take place in the spring of 2026.
The training is designed for professionals who are working on the development of energy hubs and want to take faster steps from idea to realization.
