By Harm Hofman, Durzaam Heiloo
On the evening of Thursday, April 17, an inspiring information session took place in Heiloo as part of the European REFORMERS project — an ambitious EU initiative that brings large-scale sustainable energy solutions to local communities. The event offered residents of Plan Oost the opportunity to learn more about the project and explore how Heiloo could become a flagship village within the initiative.
The evening was chaired by Rob van der Wal, head of Duurzaam Heiloo, and opened with a presentation by Joep Sanderink of the New Energy Coalition. He introduced the project’s goals: promoting sustainable energy innovations while tailoring them to the unique needs and opportunities of smaller communities like Heiloo.
Technologies and Tools Behind the Project
The second presentation came from Robin Jastrzebski of Withthegrid, a company specializing in smart energy systems. He explained how the project will use protocols, monitoring, and reporting tools to ensure transparency and effectiveness. These tools will also generate real-time energy efficiency data for evaluation purposes and help connect to Repowered, a platform enabling participants to sell their stored energy at optimal times on the day-ahead electricity market.
Harm Hofman then provided a brief overview of the components that could become available to participating households through Reformers, including home batteries, thermal storage systems, and integration with smart management tools like Teleport Home.
Interactive Breakout Sessions
After a coffee break, attendees joined rotating breakout sessions, each held three times for 15 minutes. Participants had a chance to ask questions and explore the potential of different energy systems:
- Home Batteries (Duncan Smith, Energy Konnex): Focused on how households can store solar energy for personal use or sell it back to the grid — potentially via Repowered, which holds the license for day-ahead energy trading;
- Teleport Home (Robin Jastrzebski, Withthegrid): Showcased how this smart home system enables users to manage and share energy efficiently;
- Thermal Storage (Jan de Groot, Installatieservice De Groot): Covered innovative ways to store heat energy, with systems from two providers present: Flex Themo Eco and the Nedstore from Newton.
Copyright – REFORMERS 2025
Key Takeaways
A central part of the evening was the explanation of benefits and conditions for participants:
- 65% subsidy on system components (via REFORMERS)
- Installation costs at the residents’ expense (based on supplier quotes)
- A 4-year commitment to responsibly manage the installed system and take part in monitoring
- Agreement to share energy usage and performance data for research purposes
The broader goals were also clarified: to prevent curtailment (shutting down solar panels due to oversupply), enable storage when energy prices are low, and allow users to consume or sell power flexibly depending on market conditions.
What’s Next?
The event marked the launch of a long-term project running through October 2028, including:
- System installations scheduled for August 2025,
- Five evaluation moments between January 2026 and January 2028,
- Ongoing interviews and surveys for performance tracking,
- A final presentation with results in October 2028.
Researcher Zinzi Wits, conducting practical doctoral research at InHolland University of Applied Sciences, will also be involved in monitoring and evaluating the project’s progress.
Looking ahead, there’s room for further expansion for private persons on their own account — involving more residents and possibly forming a local energy cooperative. Key to this will be the new Dutch energy law coming into effect on January 1, 2026, and the end of the net metering scheme.
Naturally, Heiloo is not navigating these changes alone. National collaboration is ongoing with organizations such as Energie Samen Noord-Holland, and inspiring examples from other communities, like Eemnes, were briefly shared during the evening.
Moving Forward Together
The evening clearly showed that Heiloo is full of energy and commitment to a sustainable future. If the Reformers project takes root here, Plan Oost has the potential to become a model for sustainable living across Europe. The chairperson concluded by thanking everyone and expressed hope that as many residents as possible will register to help make this vision a reality.