More and more neighborhoods are going to work with green energy

In the middle of the Wilhelmina Gasthuisterrein in Amsterdam-West is the ‘Future House’. It is an ecological community center that local residents can talk about the construction of an underground heat network. « Openness and transparency are very important in such a neighborhood project like this, » says co-initiator Annette Schermer (64), chairman of civil collective Ketelhuiswg.

The model by the window shows how the heat system works. In the summer the water is heated through the sun in a nearby canal. A pumping station removes the heat, and stores it 150 meters below ground. The heated water stays up to temperature there. In the winter this is pumped up, and further heated to 70 degrees with large heat exchangers for central heating installations and tap water.

From 2026 the first homes will be connected to this ‘neighborhood heat’. The heat network has a total room for 1,500 homes and can be laid out by the 7.7 million euros in government subsidy for natural gas -free neighborhoods.

Ketelhuiswg is one of the many diverse ‘citizen energy cooperatives’ in the Netherlands: local initiatives of residents to make their energy consumption more sustainable. In the West Betuwe, for example, Betuwewind cooperative has seven windmills along the A15 near Tiel and Geldermalsen. The windmills account for 60 percent of the local power supply in the region. Or take the Neighborhood Crafts Company Spijkerkwartier in Arnhem, which helps with insulation at home by, for example, placing radiator film.

Growth Citizens’ Initiatives

There are more and more of this type of citizen energy cooperatives, according to figures from the Climate Foundation here. In ten years, their number has grown from 174 to more than 700 last year. « That growth is mainly due to the uncertainty about gas prices, and because residents want to own their energy system, » says director Gijs Termeer from here ..

Civic collectives do not play a leading role in the energy transition, but with their enthusiasm and commitment they do give a good example

The growing number of civilian collectives plays ‘no leading role’ throughout the energy transition, notes Martien Visser, lecturer in energy transition at Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen. « But with their enthusiasm and commitment they give a good example. »

The government itself runs At the back of the goal of a climate neutral Netherlands in 2050. Plans for wind energy on land, for example, encounter political resistance of the current, right -wing coalition. The overloaded power grid and postponing of new environmental standards slow down the construction of solar and wind farms.

« Burger energy cooperatives therefore deserve all support from The Hague, » says Lector Visser. But in practice they regularly encounter barriers to the government.

At Ketelhuiswg in Amsterdam, for example, they believe that The Hague can be more in a hurry with the introduction of the new heat law, intended to better arrange the rates of district heating. At the moment, these rates for sustainable heat are still linked to the gas price: if natural gas becomes more expensive, the rates for sustainable heat rise. « Very crooked, » says chairman Annette Schermer. « The Netherlands wants to get away from fossil fuels. »

This must be better regulated in the Heating Act, but it has been postponed several times (now until 2026), including due to objections from municipalities and provinces, which want more control in the construction of local and regional heat networks.

Decision windmills are not forthcoming

Another problem is the absence of a decision about national environmental standards for wind turbines. Until that time, energy cooperatives such as Betuwewind, together with municipalities, may set their own standards for, among other things, noise, drop shadow and distance between windmills and other buildings.

Betuwewind started in 2012 and now has hundreds of members, says co-founder Hans Adams (54). But due to the uncertainty about national environmental standards, the arrival of three new wind turbines has been postponed. The Hague is best with outline ‘interfering’, says Adams, but when it comes to specific issues such as distance standards, Betuwewind notes that local customization is better.

Procurement by governments can also be an obstacle, says co-initiator Patrick Hoogenbosch (58) of neighborhood job company Spijkerkwartier. For example, many municipalities hire external agencies with a « process -based approach » to make households more sustainable. The residents often do not know, and also their problems, such as poverty, and that can delay.

The Hoogenbosch cooperative has a network of handy handymen from the neighborhood itself. They know the neighborhood and get the confidence faster to cross the threshold. For example, the ‘CV optimization’ course helps the neighborhood handists with the good adjustment for central heating installations.

In the meantime, together with Stichting Energiebank Regio Arnhem, the Buurtklusbedrijf has helped more than six thousand households since 2021. Energy -saving measures can save households hundreds of euros per year – and also helps a little bit to bring the 2050 climate goals closer, says Hoogenbosch: « driving the energy transition in the neighborhood also contributes to a sustainable planet. »

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