eeef is providing Technical Assistance funds to the innovative project of the Municipality of Zaanstad to develop an open and smart energy and heat network

Zaanstad – The Municipality of Zaanstad (The Netherlands) will receive Technical Assistance funds to support the project development regarding the extension of the existing district heating system in the Northern part of the municipality. The extension will include a biomass fired combined heat and power plant (CHP) with heat buffer to help achieving the EU 20/20/20 goals. The district heating network will combine the usage of waste heat from industries in that area and the capacity of the CHP. The project will provide local green heat and energy to private and public housing, schools, institutions and businesses for a competitive price.

The project can act as a buffer for renewable electricity produced in periods of low electricity demand. The surplus of renewable electricity can be converted into heat and temporally stored in heat buffers and used at a later date. The project can also offer balancing capacity to network operators in the national electricity grid. In the future this is becoming more and more important due to additional on- and offshore wind capacities in the Netherlands. The total achieved greenhouse gas emission savings equal to approx. 4,500 tons of CO2 per annum. In addition it is estimated that the project will produce around 735,000 kWh per annum of electricity.

The Municipality of Zaanstad is part of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area. It has around 150,000 inhabitants and it is aiming to play a leading role in the energy transition, stimulating local energy production from waste heat and renewable sources. The project, to combine local sources of (waste) energy with local demand, is one of the major components of the climate program of the municipality to realize energy savings, CO2 reduction and a rising share of renewables in the energy mix of the municipality.

Development activities to be undertaken by the Municipality of Zaanstad will receive support from the eeef Technical Assistance, to fund an ambitious and comprehensive plan including an technical audit, tendering activities and the legal and financial set up of the project. The Amsterdam Economic Board will be responsible for the knowledge dissemination to the Amsterdam Metropolitan Region. The objective of the Amsterdam Economic Board is to communicate about technical and commercial solutions that facilitate easy replication elsewhere and thus to stimulate new investments in similar projects in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Region.

The European Energy Efficiency Fund (eeef) S.A., SICAV-SIF is a “société d’investissement à capital variable” governed by Luxembourg law and was initiated by the European Commission in cooperation with the European Investment Bank. The initial capitalization provided by the European Commission was increased with contributions from the sponsors European Investment Bank, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti as well as the Investment manager Deutsche Bank.