Attema: “To provide a good, stable network, you must have multiple sources. Ideally, you should be able to choose which source of heat you use to best suit your consumers at that mo- ment, whether it’s wind, thermal, solar, or biofuel. If you’re flex- ible, you can anticipate change.” Involve the stakeholders. The choice of energy source isn’t necessarily the one with the best technology. For the Groningen heat grid, the stakehold- ers were asked for their opinion, including the general public, housing associations, the city’s university, consulting firms, and businesses. The high public support for using the waste heat from the data centers led to that choice. The next stage for the heat grid is to get private households on board, and again, the involvement of the stakeholders is the key. One of the ways WarmteStad will achieve this is by work- ing with an energy cooperative, in this case, Grunneger Power. The cooperative is the contact with the households. They are going door to door and promoting the concept of the heat grid, and inviting homeowners to become members. Attema: “Being a member is important because it means the energy cooperative represents you as a homeowner, and WarmteStad is simply the supplier. This is an innovative approach as the co- operative benefits from not having to invest in energy supply systems and sources yet does have an influence on the tariffs, the communication, and, to an extent, even the technology. And it means the grid continues to be a socially responsible venture rather than commercial.” Anticipate change. Legislation is changing, but there are limitations to how far it can go. The Netherlands aims to be gas-free by 2050, but the government can’t make it a legal requirement for homes. What it can do is put in legislation that allows municipalities to dismantle gas pipe networks. “We expect this to come into effect in the next five years,” says Venema. “It will mean house- holds will be quickly forced to think about where their heat will come from. They’ll still have a choice of sources because
offered stability and had the trust of the city’s first movers. Both parties had extensive expertise in the field, knew each other well, and were committed to heat transition.” WarmteStad started with small projects and new urban devel- opments (ground-coupled heat exchangers), which meant the sociological hurdle didn’t play a role as there was no history of gas-fired systems. They proved to the housing associations that WarmteStad was committed, eager to learn, and could deliver what they promised to do. And with each project, the municipality and the water company got to know each other better and drew on each other’s strengths. When competence, trust, and capacity have been created, it is time to move to- wards larger and more complex steps, like connecting private- ly owned single-family houses and making good use of the experiences and learnings of the less complicated connections of apartment buildings. By the time the Dutch national gov- ernment shifted the task of planning and executing the heat transition from natural gas to renewable ways of heating to the municipalities in 2019, Groningen was already well on its way. Ensure multiple sources. In 2016, they got the go-ahead to build the district heat grid. Venema: “We knew we needed to avoid a monoculture like gas had grown to be, so we set about choosing the right alternative energy sources. Biomass was suitable, but public support had dropped. Geothermal drilling was considered by the mining authority to be too risky as Groningen is sensitive to seismic activity caused by the depletion of what was once Europe’s largest natural gas field. The obvious alternative with strong public support was a heat grid using the residual heat from data centers located next to the heating plant. Towards the end of 2023, we’ll add a large solar thermal plant as an addi- tional source with a seasonal storage system, so we’ll then have three renewable energy sources connected to our heat grid.”
“We have three renewable energy sources connected to our heat grid.”
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