TenneT: Data Ecosystems
Summary
Together with TenneT, we removed manual handovers that slowed projects and enabled high-quality information to flow smoothly between TenneT and every partner in its value chain, improving collaboration.
Challenge
Massive grid expansion is slowed by manual processing of information from documents, which delays project progress, increases effort, and makes it harder to keep work moving.
Solution
A federated data ecosystem lets partners share data while keeping their own tools, making exchange easier without disrupting existing ways of working and helping projects advance with less friction.
Results
Faster data handovers, reliable data quality, and a future-proof way to manage information help grid expansion move ahead with less friction and greater confidence.
The challenge
Building infrastructure at record speed, with data that could not keep up
TenneT is building infrastructure at record speed. As the operator of the electricity grid across the Netherlands and Germany, they carry an enormous responsibility, and the pace continues to increase.
Here is where it gets difficult. Every supplier uses different software, so exchanging data is slow and error-prone. When information does move, it often loses the context that gives it meaning, making decisions harder, riskier, and slower to act on.
What should be a smooth, collaborative way of working turns into a source of friction instead. Projects slow down, risk goes up, and it becomes harder to move quickly in an energy landscape that is changing faster than ever.
Our approach
A connected, software-independent ecosystem
We helped TenneT build a flexible data web that connects every partner, and we did it in a way
that is completely independent of any single piece of software. This is not a central place to dump files.
It is a living network of shared meaning that helps partners exchange information more easily,
work with less friction, and keep projects moving.
Universal meaning
First, we defined what the data actually means, using national and international standards such as NEN 2660, CIM, and RDS. From that point on, every system interprets the same information in exactly the same way, reducing confusion, rework, delays, and wasted effort.
Federated sharing
Next, we made it possible for partners to share data seamlessly while keeping the tools they already work in. Rather than forcing everyone into one central file exchange, we connected them into a single web of information, so collaboration stays smooth and work can continue without disruption.
Intelligent data
Then we made the data itself smarter. With Linked Data, every piece of information carries its own context wherever it travels, so errors drop, complex questions become easier to answer, and decisions become more reliable.
An operationalized vision
Finally, we did more than design the system. We trained TenneT and its partners to lead the new way of working for themselves, so they can keep creating value long after we step back and keep working effectively.
Faster handovers and trusted data quality, at scale
Connected data delivers real, measurable speed for the grid expansion, helping the work move forward more efficiently from the start and reducing delays along the way.
Accelerated handovers
Contractors spend far less time preparing and sending data because the rules are clear and the systems are linked, leaving more time for the work itself and helping projects advance faster.
Built-in quality
All data uses a shared language, which removes the need for manual validation and prevents costly human errors before they occur, saving time, reducing risk, and improving confidence in the data.
Knowledge secured
Critical engineering expertise now lives in a digital landscape instead of in people’s heads, making it easier to retain, use, and share. TenneT can focus on building the grid rather than processing information by hand.
Freek Braakman & Bas Vliegen
”Semmtech is a reliable and proactive contractor. Especially in the vision phase they have shown a clear added value. Currently we are in the second year (live since the end of 2020) of the implementation phase and great steps are being made in the new way of working in the various disciplines of digitalization.”
