After making an inventory of the (needed) adjustments and engineering analysis, an investment plan is drawn up. This creates clarity regarding the financial feasibility of switching from individual central heating boilers in residential buildings to sustainable district heating. To achieve this, adjustments to the public space (infrastructure) and adjustments to the residential buildings will be made. The latter will be done through consultation with the owners/citizens. The residential buildings are located in two different districts in the municipality of Purmerend and Beemster. In Middenbeemster (municipality of Beemster), approximately 600 houses need to be inspected to draw up an investment plan. Before this, 470 houses need to be inspected in the second district, Overwhere- Zuid (municipality Purmerend).
In the city of Berkelland, the EUCF grant will be used to assess the possibility of ESCOs as a solution to reduce energy consumption in the housing sector. The project mainly focuses on the needs and demands of the dwellers, and this may differ per area or house. Increasing energy standards needs to coincide with an increase of comfort, healthy living programmes, poverty reduction and generation-proof housing. Making business cases viable, while safeguarding the freedom of choice for the residents regarding the degree to which they would like to be unburdened and supported by the ESCO.
Intended measures comprise the establishment of the EHB to provide heat to one part of the city Breda. The technical scope includes:
In Bronckhorst, the creation of an ESCO will reduce energy consumption and, if convenient, implement heat and renewable energy solutions. It will focus on the renovation of housing to a higher energy standard: isolation, restoration, and it may include integrating renewables (e.g. solar panels) and the heating system as an integral part of the energy system of residential and public buildings, or buildings
for small businesses. In the investment concept so-called ‘linkage opportunities’ regarding the public space, traffic, circularity, climate adaptation, and biodiversity will also be considered.
Bunnik will use the EUCF grant to produce an investment concept that focuses in increasing energy standards of residential buildings via, primarily, rooftops restoration and installation of solar panel. The creation of an ESCO will be explored to enable such actions, ensuring energy consumption reduction and the implementation of heat and renewable energy solutions.
In the Bilt, an ESCO will aim at reducing energy consumption and, if possible, implement heat and renewable energy solutions. The investment concept, developed within the EUCF, will focus on the renovation of housing to a higher energy standard and may include integrating renewables and the heating system as an integral part of the energy system of residential and public buildings, or buildings for small businesses.
Creation of a regional development fund for a local and regional production of sustainable energy (wind and solar) that will have a 50% of local ownership and management by citizens. International cooperation with partners in the Global South with programmes on climate mitigation and adaptation will be explored. The fund will be created by putting a levy on electricity and natural gas consumption by all actors providing public services in the municipalities of the region involved, which represent 9-10% of the energy consumption of the region. The levies will replace the currently Guarantees of Origin and CO2 offsetting. The Development Fund aims to target the public service sector with near 100% sustainable energy coverage by 2030/2035.
Intended measures to be financed include the replacing the use of natural gas for cooking and heating with sustainable electric alternatives, installation of heat pump, upgrading the energy efficiency of buildings to level B (preferably A) and installing more solar panels on roofs. Targeted sectors include Public buildings, building integrated renewables, Residential buildings and Innovative energy infrastructure.
In Epe, through a pilot in Oene, the investment concept will focus on how an ESCO can facilitate CO2 neutrality, in a collective manner in energy communities with affordable measures. The focus of the ESCO is to reduce energy consumption and implement heat and renewable energy solutions. As part of the larger network, the knowledge centre, the possibility of innovative energy infrastructure, like 5th generation heating concepts is included. The intended technology measures are: Integrating renewables (e.g. solar panels), Isolation, restoration and lastly, a heating system as an integral part of the energy system of residential and public buildings, or buildings for small businesses.
The project will proceed in many phases. For phase 1, residual heat from two data centres on the nearby Zernike Campus will be used as heat sources. Solar heating collectors (Dorkwerd) will also provide heat. For the next phases, residual heat from Solidus (the company producing fibre-based packaging) and Cosun Beet Company (sugar beet processor), located in Hoogkerk, are studied as heat sources. On a regional scale, more potential residual heat sources are available from the industry in Delfzijl/Eemshaven. The feasibility of these potential heat sources is also currently studied.
The city will continue to monitor developments of other potential future heat sources, including low local temperature sources, such as aqua thermal or ground source heat/residual heat from local businesses, as well as geothermal energy. The market for heat sources is dynamic. This requires maximum flexibility. In phase 1, the decision is to construct a network that can handle high temperatures (90 °C). This reduces the costs and disruption in case a change of heat source is made in the future.
The focus of this project is PV technologies. Regular large-scale PV systems require roof reinforcement measures to strengthen the bearing capacity. This problem mainly concerns large utility buildings. Because of the additional costs, the business case becomes less profitable, and the PVs are not purchased. Therefore, this investment concept promotes the use of innovative lightweight solar panels. Since the panels are lighter, reinforcement is not necessary. Hence, the technical feasibility study.
In the solar park projects, they endorse PV systems that benefit landscape integration and soil quality. For example, regular PV lets less light through, which in turn causes soil degradation. New bi-facial PV panels overcome this problem by not having a dark back panel on which the solar cells are placed. Instead, it contains glass on both sides and captures the light that passes through the back panel. As a result, the power output is significantly higher, and the soil quality is maintained.
The focus here is on energy savings and also to find and implement heat and renewable energy solutions. A collective approach for investments leads to different business concepts and technical solutions. For residential areas, there is no ESCO willing to take the whole neighbourhood as a target area. Natural gas is phased out, and district heating might be a solution, depending on the level of isolation and renewable heat supply. What fits best is under research, and the resulting investment concept includes the entire energy value chain.
The increasing amount of renewable energy projects is causing overcapacity on the energy grid, risking grid malfunction. The municipality of Leeuwarden is one of the first in The Netherlands where grid challenges are causing a delay in the transition towards sustainable energy production and the development of new SMEs, specifically in Business Park De Zwette. Various business owners have shown interest in becoming sustainable, but the local grid capacity is an obstacle.
A communally-owned energy storage solution in which decentralized renewable energy generation can be stored locally to mitigate grid scarcity on De Zwette can therefore accelerate the local energy transition. Several potential technical solutions are envisaged, such as an aqua battery, variable energy storage in the vehicle fleet and /or different methods of battery. The project will identify which solution is most fitting based on the local technical, legal and financial framework.
The investment project focuses on renovation of housing to a higher energy standard: isolation, restoration, and it may include integrating renewables (e.g. solar panels) and the heating system as an integral part of the energy system of residential and public buildings, or buildings for small businesses.
Several analyses in 2021 (for the Transitievisie Warmte) have shown that for the township, heat pump systems are the best option for 84% of the (existing) houses (ca. 21,000 houses) towards fossil-free heating. In the ‘Transitievisie Warmte’, three scenarios of heating were calculated for three different types of houses. This is the first indication of the needed measures and costs. On average, it can be said that the following measures are needed towards making households fossil-free: insulation, heat pumps, radiators (or underfloor heating), induction cookers and ventilation.
Intended measures comprise the establishment of a heating grid of approximately 30 km between the greenhouse clusters in Greenport Aalsmeer, including ‘T’ sections where local heat sources and residential neighbourhoods and business parks can collectively connect to the grid. The technical scope includes a 30 km heating grid including T-sections. In addition, there will be a connection to the Greenhouse heating system of up to 300 hectares of greenhouses, including heat exchanger units. They also plan a connection to geothermal heating projects in the greenhouse area’s PrimA4a and De Kwakel-Kudelstaar. They also foresee, within the investment, monitoring and control systems, installation and commissioning and development costs such as engineering, contracting and permits. The development of geothermal wells (PrimA4a and Kudelstaart) is expected in the area but is not included in the scope of this investment concept.
Utrecht will focus on residential buildings and their energy consumption in the 70s neighbourhood of De Hofjes. The activities will support the ageing population in improving their homes, especially where the financial possibilities are low. Focusing on energy savings will make the neighbourhood ready for an alternative heating system based on renewable energy. The ageing population creates financing challenges for which an innovative investment construct is needed. The solution of an ESCO will be investigated with particular attention to the governance structure.
In Voorst, the investment concept will assess the possibility of ESCOs that may enable a CO2 free Wilp, focusing on energy efficiency in housing and building integrated renewables. The work will, at first, focus on Wilp as a pilot, the resulting construction will be available for the whole of municipality of Voorst. The grant will allow the supporting of a social infrastructure for an energy community, design an institutional framework and build a collective business case for an ESCO.
The investment concept aims to develop the Smart port Waalwijk including EV shipping, EV trucking, charging stations, battery storage and sustainable terminal. The sectors targeted will be building integrated renewables, Sustainable urban mobility, Innovative energy infrastructure and Smart Grids.
Wageningen will use the support of the EUCF to develop an investment concept aiming at reducing energy consumption in the housing sector and explore the possibility to implement heat and renewable energy solutions. An ESCO will work to increase the energy standard of housing: isolation, restoration, and may include integrating renewables such as solar panels.
Measures to be financed include creating a regional 5th generation heat system covering the entire municipality, connecting the various heat clusters with each other and with customers (greenhouse horticulture and the built environment) by building a pipe network and an intelligent dynamic supply-demand parity operating system. In terms of sectors, those targeted are district heating, Innovative energy infrastructure and Smart Grids.
The focus of the ESCo is to reduce energy consumption and, if convenient, implement heat and renewable energy solutions. The project focuses on the renovation of housing to a higher energy standard: insulation, and restoration, and it may include integrating renewables (e.g. solar panels) and the heating system as an integral part of the energy system of residential buildings, or buildings for small businesses.
The research mainly focuses on the needs and demands of the dwellers, as they may differ per area or house. An ESCo should be accepted as a solution by residents and therefore be able to meet their needs. Increasing energy standards coincides with an increase in comfort, healthy living programmes, poverty reduction and generation-proof housing, making business cases viable. In Austerlitz (a village in Zeist) as a pilot, a particular focus is on generation-proof housing, as many of the residents are elderly people.