Case Study: How Alliander is Transforming Asset Investment Planning with Copperleaf
Alliander, a major Dutch energy network operator, is responsible for delivering electricity and gas to millions of customers across the Netherlands. With increasing grid congestion, surging connection requests, and the growing complexity of the energy transition, Alliander recognised the need to modernise its approach to investment planning.
In this webinar, Stijn Strebus, AIP Product Owner at Alliander, and Fin Jennrich, VP of Sales Central Europe & Nordics at Copperleaf, explore how the organisation is building a unified, transparent process for making smarter, data-driven investment decisions.
We want to proactively communicate with customers, and have more control and transparency in our planning. Copperleaf is helping us move in that direction, step by step.
Stijn Strebus, AIP Product Owner
Alliander
The Challenge
Alliander faced a number of challenges in its investment planning process:
- Suboptimal portfolio value: Limited insight into the relationship between risk, constraints, and resource allocation made it difficult to prioritise the highest-value projects.
- Diverse, inconsistent processes: Teams and departments operated with different workflows and tools, leading to a fragmented planning environment.
- Complex application landscape: Custom-built tools created integration challenges and lacked scalability.
- Limited project oversight: Without effective monitoring, the organisation was often reacting late to delays and project changes, making communication with stakeholders more difficult.
We were working with many different processes and tools. We needed one transparent, consistent process across the organisation—and that’s why we chose Copperleaf.
Stijn Strebus, AIP Product Owner
Alliander
The Solution
Alliander began its AIP journey in 2024 by focusing on the basics—identifying all constraints, risks, and ongoing investments to establish a solid data foundation. With this groundwork in place, the team is now moving into portfolio optimisation and execution tracking.
The AIP process implemented with Copperleaf includes:
- Identifying risks and constraints
- Selecting the most effective investment options
- Optimising the portfolio to align with strategy and resource capacity
- Monitoring execution and evaluating results
By standardising this process and implementing a common economic framework, Alliander is creating a clearer line of sight from strategy to execution.
We’re building alignment across departments and improving data quality, which helps us make better decisions more efficiently.
Stijn Strebus, AIP Product Owner
Alliander
The Results
While early in the journey, Alliander is already seeing value:
- Improved transparency: A single source of truth supports more constructive, content-focused conversations.
- Greater efficiency: More consistent processes are helping teams save time and reduce manual effort.
- Stronger decision-making: Improved visibility enables better prioritisation and trade-off decisions across projects.
With €2 billion invested annually, even small improvements in investment efficiency can have significant impact. Early results show promise, with expected gains of up to 3% in portfolio value—enabling Alliander to deliver more impactful projects with the same resources.
What’s Next?
In 2025 and 2026, Alliander plans to build on its foundation by expanding optimisation capabilities and integrating execution monitoring. The long-term goal is to embed asset investment planning into everyday decision-making and continuously improve transparency—both internally and with customers.
You don’t need perfect data to get started. Simply start the journey and build everything gradually over time.
Fin Jennrich,
IFS Copperleaf
Watch the full webinar on demand to learn more about Alliander’s AIP journey—and discover how your organisation can do the same.