by Harm Hofman, duurzaam heiloo,

As part of the Reformes project, the small industrial area “Oude Werf”  in Heiloo has also been included. Although grid congestion is less pressing in this area, there are still plenty of opportunities to use energy more efficiently.

Rob van der Wal, who previously gave the Reformes partners a tour in his company CiRopack, is once again taking the lead in this initiative. A community battery will be installed on his premises, alongside a battery he needs for his new electric truck. This setup avoids the need to place additional battery containers in public spaces or to install separate grid connections. The existing infrastructure at CiRopack is sufficient for this purpose. Naturally, several documents will need to be prepared to ensure proper governance, and work on this is currently underway.

Building on this initiative, five other entrepreneurs at Oude Werf have come together to explore what they can do in terms of energy savings and storage. The types of businesses involved are quite diverse: from companies with numerous machines to an entrepreneur who rents out a building equipped with solar panels and a medium-voltage connection, a car showroom, and a vehicle repair company. In short, tailor-made solutions will be required.

The initial assessment has now been completed. The next step is to identify, for each business, the potential to optimise energy use – possibly with the help of battery storage. A local expert has been brought in to support this process and to monitor energy flows. The use of heat pumps is also being considered.

Finally, we’re exploring how businesses might share surplus energy with other companies or even with private individuals. Dutch legislation on this matter was recently updated, so further research will be needed to understand the new possibilities.