Brainport keeps growing, but the power grid is full

The Brainport region is doing well economically and is in crisis mode at the same time. Not because of order books, but because of electricity. Since 1 July 2026, the whole of North Brabant has effectively had a grid connection freeze: anyone wanting a new or heavier connection to the electricity grid ends up on a waiting list. Small or large, business or home.

That's not an abstract energy dossier. It directly affects the plans of businesses here — including our own and those of many of our clients. Hence this article: what's happening, the numbers behind it, and what it practically means for your business.

What's actually going on

Demand for electricity in this region is growing faster than the grid can keep up. Housing construction, electric transport, making buildings more sustainable and, above all, the growth of industry are all landing on the same grid.

The situation in short:

• The high-voltage substations Eindhoven-West and Helmond-Zuid are already locked, and more are expected to follow.
• At the end of May 2026 the region officially entered crisis mode. National government, the Eindhoven metropolitan region (21 municipalities) and grid operators Enexis and TenneT are jointly drawing up a package of measures.
• Since 1 July 2026 the entire province of North Brabant has had a connection freeze for new and heavier connections.
• On 14 July 2026, Enexis reached agreements with all 21 municipalities to speed up low- and medium-voltage grids: designating locations for transformer huts and distribution stations faster, faster permitting, and better coordination of works.

Sources: the municipality of Eindhoven on the impact of grid congestion, Omroep Brabant, Energeia.

The numbers that make it concrete

The region wanted to build around 62,000 homes by 2030. Roughly a third of those have been completed. Construction of 20,000 new-build homes is at risk of stalling because they cannot be connected, according to alderman Rik Thijs speaking on behalf of the 21 municipalities (July 2026). Looking further ahead — the 50,000 additional homes the region wants to build between 2031 and 2036 — estimates rise to at least 70,000 homes that cannot be built without intervention.

The municipality of Eindhoven carried out its own impact analysis. Conclusion: the ambition of roughly 40,000 homes by 2036 is under pressure, with Eindhoven-West as the biggest bottleneck. Area developments, the construction and renovation of dozens of schools, community facilities and business premises can also be delayed while they wait for a connection.

And all of this is happening while growth is actually accelerating. On 10 March 2026, Eindhoven's city council voted 35 to 6 in favour of the zoning change for the ASML campus at BIC Noord. The first 5,000 employees are due to be there by early 2028; in the longer term the campus offers room for around 20,000 jobs, plus tens of thousands more at suppliers across the region. On top of that comes €2.51 billion from the Beethoven agreement, running until 2030, for talent, space, housing, accessibility and energy.

Two movements at once, then: firm growth commitments on paper, and a physical brake on the grid.

What this means if you do business here

We're not energy consultants, so we'll stick to what we actually see happening at businesses in the region. Four things.

1. Physical plans take longer, digital ones don't

An extra hall, a bigger production line, a second location, a charging hub for your van or delivery fleet: expect waiting time and a conversation with the grid operator before you commit to a location. What isn't stuck in a queue: your website, your findability, your marketing, your CRM, your AI applications, your processes. If growth through bricks and mortar is temporarily stuck, growth through your digital channels is often the fastest alternative — not a consolation prize, simply the route with the shortest lead time.

2. The battle for people is getting harder, not easier

Twenty thousand jobs on a single campus pull even more talent out of the labour market. If you're looking for technical or commercial staff in this region, you're competing for attention with employers who have much deeper pockets. That makes your story more important than your job listing: why does your company exist, what's it like to work there, what do you actually build. Careers pages that tell that honestly tend to do more in practice than one more job board listing.

3. Sustainability becomes a procurement criterion

When everyone is fighting over the same capacity, buyers start asking questions about consumption, generation, storage and flexibility. If you're doing something about it, put it on your site visibly, with figures. If you're not doing anything yet, don't invent a claim. With sustainability claims, vague is worse than silent.

4. Being local now has measurable value

Businesses and institutions in this region are seeking each other out because scarcity forces collaboration: sharing capacity, sharing people, sharing knowledge. So make sure you're findable where you're based. A good page about your region, accurate business details, an up-to-date Google Business Profile and being mentioned by parties nearby — that's local SEO that leads to real conversations in practice.

Why we stay optimistic about this

Grid congestion is a serious problem and it won't be solved for years. Yet it's also a typically Brainport problem: the region is growing faster than its infrastructure, which is exactly what happened in the nineties with knowledge, space and collaboration. What worked then, we're seeing again now: businesses, knowledge institutions and governments sitting down together because no one can solve it alone. The crisis approach with 21 municipalities and two grid operators is one example of that, however bureaucratic it sounds.

We're based in the heart of Eindhoven and we're not going anywhere. More about the region, the numbers and why we're here can be found on our Brainport page.