Agreement to Build Wateringen Switching Station in The Hague

The De Vijvers residents’ association, national grid operator TenneT and the municipality of The Hague have agreed on several modifications to the original plan for the new high-voltage substation to be built near the Wateringse Veld residential district in The Hague. TenneT will make a number of changes to the substation, including partial rearrangement of the site. In exchange the residents’ association and municipality will discontinue legal proceedings against construction of the substation.

Following intensive negotiations over the past weeks, the parties reached agreement on what for the residents will be the improved spatial embedding of the planned 150/380-kV substation. Provisions in the agreement include demolition of the existing aboveground high-voltage pylons that run through the ecological zone alongside the residential district towards Rijswijk. An underground cable will replace them. Additionally, two of the six 150-kV transformers to be built will be installed at a different location on the site, further away from the residential district. TenneT has also agreed not to build anything on the northwestern side of the substation for the coming ten years. The parties are still consulting on what will be done with the space freed up at the Wateringen substation. They are also jointly exploring where in the vicinity the four remaining 150-kV transformers will be built.