Development of infrastructure for heating and sustainable gases
Public district heating networks ensure optimum deployment of sustainable sources at the lowest cost to society and with transparent prices for consumers. With Firan, we are encouraging the development of new, local sources of heat and further greening of the network. The collective system provides access to the full potential of locally available sources, such as aquathermal energy, residual heat from data centres and geothermal energy. In 2024, we worked on developing and expanding district heating networks in various municipalities through our subsidiary Firan. In Amsterdam's Middenmeer district, for example, a heating network using residual heat from a nearby data centre is under development. The municipality of Amsterdam, neighbourhood cooperative MeerEnergie and Firan signed a collaboration agreement for this in 2024. In the Nijmegen borough of Dukenburg, Firan and local partners are now developing the first phase of the heating network for the Zwanenveld and Lankforst-Noord districts, which uses residual heat.
Gelders Warmte Infra Bedrijf (GWIB), which the province of Gelderland, Firan and Oost NL established in 2023, supports municipalities in the development, realisation and operation of public district heating networks. Together with municipalities, Firan started working on several district heating systems in 2024, in Zutphen and Apeldoorn for example.
Sustainable gases
Hydrogen
In 2024, Alliander developed a vision of connecting up regional industry in a number of focus areas where multiple potential customers could be connected at relatively short distances from each other This gives us a picture of where possible (local) production and usage of hydrogen will be concentrated and identifies where a requirement for hydrogen infrastructure will arise. Within the sector, this vision is being used as a reference document in consultations with the government. The knowledge gained from the practical projects in Delft, Oosterwolde and Lochem will be used to draw up the tenders for the first industrial hydrogen networks that Firan plans to have constructed in Deventer and the port area of Amsterdam.
Alliander is working closely with the Port of Amsterdam on constructing a regional hydrogen network in the port area (H2avennet). In 2024, Firan and Zaanstad Maakstad (a partnership between local businesses) launched a study to explore the possibilities for a hydrogen network for use by industry in the Zaan region. Firan is working on a hydrogen solution for businesses and business parks in Deventer and the surrounding area.
Green gas
In 2024, 31 green gas providers fed 82.3 million m3 of green gas into Liander's network. Over 294 million m3 of green gas were fed in nationwide. This indicates that green gas feed-in is growing at a linear rate. We are not yet seeing the projected growth spurt, mainly due to a utilisation rate of 54% of contracted capacity, compared to around 60% in recent years. In addition, many new start-ups were delayed again, resulting in only four of the expected 11 providers being added by 2024.
Continued growth stimulation through the increased SDE grant scheme for green gas and the blending obligation due to come into effect in 2025 are necessary to achieve the ambitions set out in the Climate Agreement. The growth in exploratory studies that we saw in 2023 was not sustained in 2024 however. The government now appreciates that the growth in green gas is difficult to achieve and has reduced the target quantity under the blending obligation from 1.6 to 1.1 billion m3 per year. In 2024, Alliander obtained 12 new contracts for connecting new green gas providers.
Network connections
In preparation for the expected growth, Liander implemented policy in 2024 to proactively connect networks to the 8-bar high-pressure network. This allows us to create capacity in areas where there is high potential for green gas feed-in. We also started a new project with partners to build a green gas booster station in Almere, which will transfer surplus green gas from Liander's 8-bar network to the regional transmission network of Gasunie Transport Service (GTS). This opens the door to further growth in green gas feed-in in Flevoland.