Grid connection, waiting times and strategic timing: Why "acting now" is a market question

Access to the electricity grid used to be something businesses could take more or less for granted. That is no longer the case. Capacity in the Danish electricity grid is, in many places, close to exhausted, and waiting times for new connections have grown markedly. Timing is no longer a detail. It has become a strategic and market question.

This article explains why the grid has become a scarce resource, what the waiting times mean, how the allocation of capacity is in the process of being changed, and why an existing grid connection has gained a new value. We aim to present this soberly, as a consequence to weigh, not as pressure.

The grid has become a scarce resource

Demand for connection to the electricity grid has exploded. According to Energinet, Denmark's national transmission system operator, around 60 gigawatts of new consumption was in the queue at the beginning of 2026 across the transmission and distribution grids. By comparison, Denmark's maximum electricity consumption is approximately 7 gigawatts. A large share of the pressure comes from new, very large consumption projects such as data centres, batteries and power-to-X plants.

The situation led Energinet, on 2 March 2026, to introduce a temporary pause in entering into new grid connection agreements, because capacity in the transmission grid was close to exhausted. The pause did not affect projects with an already concluded connection agreement, but no new agreements were signed, and other projects had to expect longer processing times. It is an unusual situation, and it says something about how strained the grid has become.

Waiting times and a new model

The pause did not simply lead to a resumption of the previous approach. At the end of May 2026, Energinet announced that it is moving to a new model for larger connections, under which projects are processed together in batches and against stricter requirements for maturity, progress and grid-friendliness. No new agreements for larger connections will be signed until autumn at the earliest.

According to Energinet, the time horizon can in several cases be five to ten years for the very largest connections, because it requires planning, permitting and physical expansion of the grid. Another important point in the new model is that capacity is only reserved once a grid connection agreement has been concluded. That means a place in the queue is not in itself a guarantee of capacity.

The queue is also not simply restarted unchanged. Energinet reviews and cleans up the queue according to the new principles, so projects are not necessarily processed in the same order as before, but according to maturity, progress and grid-friendliness. Projects that were submitted after 2 March 2026 are processed from the start under the updated criteria. For a business, that means a project's place is no longer determined solely by when it entered the queue, but also by how thoroughly prepared it is, and how lightly it uses the grid.

From first-come, first-served to prioritisation

Until now, connection has to a large extent followed a first-come, first-served principle. That is also changing. On 29 June 2026, the government and a broad majority in the Folketing (the Danish Parliament) reached a political understanding on an emergency plan for the electricity grid, intended to give Energinet and the grid companies the ability to prioritise access to the grid according to politically set criteria.

In the model, requests for grid connection are divided into four categories, where category 1 covers protected needs and societally critical functions, category 2 direct electrification and renewable energy, category 3 energy storage and projects that support the electricity system, and category 4 certain large energy consumers. Within the categories, projects are also assessed on grid-friendliness, that is how much they put load on the grid. A bill is expected to be introduced after the summer recess, so the new rules can be used when the next batch of larger connections is processed in the autumn.

The value of an existing connection

When new connections are hard to obtain, an existing connection gains a new value. A business that already has a sufficient grid connection is not at the back of a multi-year queue if it wants to make use of the capacity it already has. A battery placed at an existing connection and configured so that it puts as little load on the grid as possible is precisely the kind of grid-friendly solution that the new model rewards.

We often say that a grid connection from around 400 amperes and upwards is where an industrial BESS installation typically begins to make sense, which we expand on in another article. It is a practical rule of thumb, not a regulatory threshold. There is at the same time an important caveat: an existing capacity allocation is not automatically a guarantee that there is room for a battery. A battery changes the load on the connection, and a site-specific assessment is needed, and usually a separate agreement as well, before the capacity can be used for that purpose.

Flexibility as relief for the queue

Scarce capacity also makes flexibility more valuable at system level. Green Power Denmark, the industry association for the Danish energy sector, points out that flexibility, including batteries, can supplement the expansion of the electricity grid and in some cases defer or reduce the need for grid reinforcements. The Danish Energy Agency has correspondingly launched analyses of flexible grid connection terms and a possible flexibility market. Common to these tracks is that a plant that uses the grid flexibly and does not put load on it in the most stressed hours fits better into a grid with scarce capacity than a plant that draws at maximum all the time. That is the same grid-friendliness that the new connection model emphasises.

That does not change the fact that the expansion of the grid itself remains necessary. The industry has repeatedly stressed that flexibility can relieve, but not replace, a faster expansion. For an individual business, however, the point is concrete: a plant that is configured flexibly typically stands stronger, both in the queue and in operation.

Timing as a market question

This is where the question of timing becomes concrete. When capacity is scarce, the queue is long and the rules are changing, the timing of a decision has real consequences. A business that makes use of an existing connection while it has it is in a different situation from one that first has to apply for new capacity in a strained queue. That is not an argument for rushing, but an observation that the framework conditions are changing, and that they form part of an overall assessment.

The point is not that businesses should act out of fear of missing out. The point is that access to the grid can no longer be assumed to be there when it is needed, and that it is therefore a factor that belongs in a responsible decision about an installation. Timing has become part of the business case, not a sales detail. The same applies the other way: if a project is not mature, or if the grid in an area is full, the right conclusion may be to wait or choose another location, not to hurry. A sober assessment of timing can therefore just as well lead to patience as to action.

ZynexGroup's approach: screening and grid connection

For us, an assessment begins by clarifying what is actually possible at the individual location. We handle screening and support the customer in the grid connection process, so it is not something the business has to handle alone. That involves looking at the existing connection, the consumption profile and the local conditions, and clarifying whether a battery can be fitted within the capacity that is available.

On that basis we can have a data-driven dialogue about what can realistically be done, and what may require a new or expanded connection. If the conclusion is that the capacity is not sufficient, we say so, rather than promising something that depends on a queue we do not control.

Overall perspective

The electricity grid has become a scarce resource. Demand far exceeds the capacity available in the short term, waiting times for new connections are long, and allocation is moving from first-come, first-served to a prioritised model. In that picture, an existing, utilised connection has gained a new strategic value.

For industrial businesses, the practical takeaway is that access to the grid can no longer be taken for granted, and that timing has therefore become a real market question. It should form part of a sober decision about an installation, on a par with the installation's technical and economic assumptions.

Get an assessment of your site's potential

If you want clarity on what your grid connection realistically makes possible, we handle screening and support you in the grid connection process. We start from your own data: grid connection, consumption profile and history. On that basis we produce an initial assessment of whether there is a match, and what the next step could then be. You are welcome to contact us.