Amsterdam aims to totally decarbonise through district heating

The Dutch capital, Amsterdam, is seeking to completely decarbonise its network through the use of district heating.

Jannis Van Zenten, Project Leader with AEB Amsterdam told Cogeneration Channel news site the city initially plans to increase its existing heat network connections fourfold.

“We are producing electricity from our waste incineration company and creating more energy by expanding the district heating network in Amsterdam. Because we are producing electricity at the maximum level, all the energy we produce in excess will be used to increase efficiency of energy production from waste.

Amsterdam

Nowadays 10 per cent of the city is covered by district heating and we are trying to expand it to almost 40 percent of the city within 25 years.”

Van Zentel told the channel that the city is ambitious for the extent it can utilise district heating to reach its objective.

“We want to reduce emissions now and in the future and we think district heating can create a 100 per cent decarbonised energy network.”

Immediate steps towards the goal include increasing connections by almost 70 per cent from 2016 onwards.

“This year we are connecting 4,000 homes and trying to enlarge it to 7,000 connections every year until we reach the goal of 230,000 houses by 2040.

“We are looking to create an offer for people to connect to the district heating network on the basis that it is cheaper than paying for a gas connection.”

“Many end users may have no interest in sustainability, like cities and governments do but they will be interested in a cheap price for a reliable product.”

Source: COSPP