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Pijnacker-Nootdorp, a Dutch municipality near The Hague, is one of the largest greenhouse horticultural municipalities in the Netherlands. They have to sustain 4.75 PJ of energy use each year. How will they succeed?
The approach of this municipality on the way to an energy neutral future is two-fold:- They stimulate, organize and coordinate stakeholders in the heat chain.
- They connect the urban environment with the greenhouse horticulture.
By actively working together with heat suppliers and distributors – including geothermal sources and residual heat from
industries – as well as end users, this municipality has successfully developed projects that accelerate sustainability. Key projects are the existing geothermal network in Pijnacker and the heat cooperation in the region Oostland.
Energy transition through stakeholder organization
Pijnacker-Nootdorp wants to be an energy neutral area by 2050. Two thirds of the energy demand in this municipality consists of heat for 325 ha of greenhouse horticulture and 20.000 households. Moreover, the greenhouse horticultural sector wants to be climate neutral by 2040. Sustainability in this sector has increasingly become a ‘license to produce’. The urban environment can also profit from this development and organizing a heat chain is the key to success. The township stimulates and organizes stakeholders, however, it does not play a role in the commercial production, distribution and delivery of heat to the customer.
Stakeholder coordination for the Ammerlaan geothermal network
The municipality has a lot of geothermal potential. Together with Ammerlaan, a company specialized in greenhouse horticulture, the municipality has expanded its geothermal network to 20 ha of entrepreneurs in greenhouse horticulture, a sports complex with swimming pool, a secondary school and 470 apartments.
In total 305.502 GJ of gas per year is saved this way. The municipality has actively facilitated the process by bringing Ammerlaan, the housing cooperation, the school and the sports complex together. The municipality has functioned as a problem solver, assisting the entrepreneurs in the different phases of the project development and implementation. Important success factors are the bringing in of European subsidies as well as the provision of loans.
Stakeholder cooperation for a regional Heatnetwork for Oostland
The geothermal potential is insufficient to meet the entirety of the heat demand in Pijnacker-Nootdorp . On the other hand, the nearby Port of Rotterdam with its large industrial complex however, produces large amounts of residual heat (40 PJ per year). That is why the municipality is working on a heat infrastructure covering an entire area in collaboration with the neighboring municipality of Lansingerland with its geothermal heat sources, the Port of Rotterdam’s industrial complex, LTO (a horticultural organization) as well as other stakeholders in the heat chain. The goal of the heat cooperation in Oostland is to develop this regional network as part of “the heat roundabout Rotterdam- The Hague” by 2030.
The municipality of Pijnacker-Nootdorp organizes the stakeholders on three levels:- The demand for heat per greenhouse horticultural area/urban area as well as the distribution networks that go with it;
- The heat infrastructure between those areas;
- The connection with the industrial area in the Port of Rotterdam.
- The municipality is successful in this approach. It is prepared to go along with this complex process and collaborates with the stakeholders to insure a common goal: an energy neutral future for Pijnacker-Nootdorp!
