A congestion area is an area where there is a temporary or structural shortage of transmission capacity. Thus, in a congestion area, the maximum transmission capacity of the electricity grid has been reached. So there is more need from customers in a region for electricity capacity to be generated or consumed than the electricity grid can provide.

In a congestion area, there is no more room for allocating electricity transmission rights to customers (both new connections and increases in contracted transmission capacity among existing customers). The electricity grid must first be expanded or additional space must be made available through, for example, applying congestion management.

The current congestion areas can be found at: https://capaciteitskaart.netbeheernederland.nl/