TenneT

TenneT was formed in 1998 when the Dutch electricity industry was liberalised, and was incorporated as a business in 2001 with the passing of the Electricity Production Sector Transition Act. Its statutory tasks included management of the national transmission grid and maintaining the balance between electrical supply and demand. In 2003, it acquired the regional system operator Transportnet Zuid-Holland.

TenneT moved beyond these regulated businesses in 2004 when it entered the gas market by acquiring EnergieKeuze, an online gas and power contract exchange market. In 2005 TenneT further expanded its operations when, together with the Belgian and French TSOs Elia and RTE and the APX and Powernext power exchanges, it formed the Belgian Power Exchange Belpex. This granted it a right to participate in the Belgian electricity market.

Since 1 January 2010, Tennet owns the German high‑voltage grid operator Transpower Stromübertragungs GmbH, formerly a part of E.ON, now renamed to Tennet TSO GmbH. The agreed value of transaction was €885 million. The company quoted several reasons for the merger, including price equalization, improved grid balancing, greater insight into grid situations, and better possibilities for sustainable development in both countries.

On 1 March 2018, the European Commission opened a formal antitrust investigation against TenneT, alleging it was deliberately bottlenecking the grid connection between Denmark and Northern Germany, preventing cheap wind and hydro power from Scandinavia from being exported to the German market. The Commission adopted a decision on 7 December 2018, imposing binding obligations on TenneT to allow at least 75% of the capacity to be utilized after a 6-month implementation period, as well as to expand the connection capacity from 1300 MW to 2625 MW by January 2026.

In early 2023, TenneT announced that the Dutch and German governments were discussing a potential sale of TenneT's German grid for €22 billion, as the Dutch government was reluctant to provide the growing investment cost for the German grid. The sale was abandoned in 2024, due to the German government lacking the required budget. In the meantime, the Dutch government had provided the company with a €25 billion loan.

In September 2025, a sale was agreed for 46% of the shares of TenneT Germany to a consortium of investors for a value of €9.5bn euros. In February 2026, a further 25.1% was sold to the German government, for the value of €3.3bn.

After the sale, TenneT continues to operate as two separate national organizations in the Netherlands and Germany, held together as a group under a single holding company, which retains a 28.9% share of TenneT Germany.

TenneT is a partner in European Market Coupling Company.