The energy transition went from a question of generating enough green power to a question of logistics: how do we keep growing when the grid is full?

For the businesses at Pannenweg II in Nederweert, this question was a real barrier to growth. As reported by Eva Rooijers in a story for FD,See: Rooijers, E. (2025, November 26). Op bedrijvenpark Pannenweg kunnen ondernemers eindelijk de ruimte op het stroomnet delen. FD Nederlands Dagblad. cheese processor Geris Dairy Solutions needed more power for new freezers to expand their facility by 50%, ventilator manufacturer Interduct faced monthly surcharge fines for charging their fleet of electric vans, and All-Inn Carwash had a roof full of solar panels but had to switch them off on sunny days because they could not feed back into the grid.

They had two options: wait years for grid reinforcement, or rewrite the rules of how they use the existing grid. Under the leadership of park manager Wim Schilders and the Energy Trading Platform Pannenweg (EHP-P), 14 companies chose the latter. And after years of preparation, they signed a Group Transport Agreement (Groepstransportovereenkomst or GTO) with grid operator Enexis.

What’s a Group Transport Agreement (GTO)?

The concept stems from an observation: not everyone uses their maximum capacity at the same time. A bakery might peak in the early morning, while a logistics center peaks in the afternoon or a crane rental company charges at night. So what if, when one business isn’t using its full share, another could use it?

That’s where the GTO comes in. This contract allows those companies to pool their individual rights into one collective "bucket" of capacity.Please note: The collective limit might be lower than the combined individual capacities of each participant as it is based on historical profiles. It usually represents between 60% and 80% of the total sum of the original individually contracted capacities. As long as the group stays within the collective limits, individual companies can exceed their old caps.

However, this freedom comes with an important operational risk. If the group collectively exceeds the limit, the consequences can be severe, potentially leading to blackouts for the entire region or massive liability claims. To mitigate this risk, legal tools are not enough; you need a technical system that guarantees the group stays within the lines.

The technical backbone

A legal agreement is as important as the technology that enforces it. To manage the group’s limits, you need two things:

1. Local connectivity (The Teleport): Every participating company installed a Teleport Gateway. The gateway connects directly to the company’s meters and flexible assets, such as batteries or solar inverters. It acts as the secure local entry point, reading data in real-time to monitor consumption and generation. It forwards this telemetry to the cloud-based Energy Management System (EMS) provided by ACC, and receives control setpoints to steer assets when necessary. It also provides a fallback logic in case the connectivity with the cloud is lost.
2. Cloud intelligence (A Consultancy Company): ACC’s software calculates the available capacity for the group and determines which assets need to be steered – for instance, charging/discharging a battery, or curtailing PV – to keep the energy hub within the agreed collective limits.
3. Supplier integration (OM | Nieuwe Energie): Because all companies share the same energy supplier, OM | Nieuwe Energie, the hub optimizes not just for grid capacity (kW) but also for energy volume (kWh).

A blueprint

On November 26, 2025, the agreement was officially signed.See: Enexis Groep. (2025, November 26). Enexis sluit eerste groepstransportovereenkomst met 14 bedrijven op Bedrijvenpark Pannenweg: mijlpaal voor slim en duurzaam stroomverbruik. It means that the companies can keep expanding and electrifying.

This project was realized through the persistence of the park management and the technical expertise of partners like Rethink Zero (Marien Boonman & Enzo Diependaal) and ACC. It proves that with the right technical foundation, businesses can continue to grow despite the wait for more copper.