Companies go, cold and power heat in Amsterdam
Companies can save a lot of energy if they mutually share a surplus of heat, cold and electricity. In Amsterdam they want to do this at a new distribution center. The intention is to buy half the energy that the center will use. And because the business park then needs much less electricity from ‘outside’, it also helps to reduce problems on the electricity grid in the capital.
In some places in Amsterdam, companies can’t get the electricity connection they want now, because grid operators can’t keep up with the demand. The transfer point on the outskirts of Amsterdam is being developed by Somerset Capital Partners and the energy system is provided by Eon, Essent’s German parent company.
Until this summer, the Dutchman Patrick Lammers was the chief executive of Essent in the Netherlands and is now the commercial European boss of Eon, one of the largest energy companies in Europe. According to him, these types of centers are important for the future: “In the coming years, I expect between 25 and 40 of these types of projects in the Netherlands alone.”
The concept works in Lund, Sweden, and projects are already being set up in Poland, England, Germany and Italy. The project in Amsterdam will be the largest to date.
Sustainable gateway
In the bend of the A9 near Badhoevedorp, a business center between Amsterdam and years that needs to be made energy neutral. The complex of more than 120,000 square meters is intended to become a sustainable gateway for Amsterdam.
Real estate company Somerset Capital Partners is investing 250 million euros in the project and today announced that the park will have one of the largest electric charging points for vans and trucks in the Netherlands.
Machiel Mulder, professor of energy economics at the University of Groningen, the initiative is a very good thing. “A lot of heat and cold is wasted and the trick is to link it.”
The scientist expects that it will not be easy to realize the project and get it obtained, but he believes it could help reduce capacity backlash problems on the power grid. “It helps to use the excess electricity generated from solar energy locally.” In Amsterdam, for example, a surplus of electricity can be used to lower the temperature of a refrigerated warehouse and to raise it slightly in the event of a shortage of electricity.