Watts to ADD

Guusje Huybregts: Welcome to Watts to ADD. In the previous episode, we discussed all the solutions available for NET congestion. In this episode, we will discuss which option we are going for and go into a little more detail. Yes, great! Can you tell us more? In the previous episode, we discussed all the different paths we could take and which one we ultimately chose.

Dirk-Jan Houben: Yes, as I mentioned in the previous episode. So for us, the process was driven by the desire for sustainability. We actually linked it to congestion. And that means that we initially asked ourselves what we really needed in terms of our sustainability ambitions. Because your demand decreases, at least in terms of building-related energy. And what do we have now? What? What can we already do without needing anything from the grid? And that’s what actually came out. Okay, so you can have this many solar panels, because you also have to meet certain sustainability requirements. You can’t install an infinite number of solar panels. You do get power at those homes, but you have a thermal energy storage system that is the source of heat and cold for everything. And how can you actually make sure that comes together? That’s what we actually said. If you have that many solar panels, you can already see that you have too much energy in the summer. So you can install batteries, but they are currently full.

DJ: Then you still have too much energy.

DJ: You can’t get rid of it. So we said you really need an e boiler, because you can’t feed it back into the grid. So you use the electricity you’ve generated to produce heat, and then you put in a heat buffer, which makes the thermal energy storage system more efficient. Then you’re good to go. But what’s the ideal way to combine that electricity with the thermal energy storage system? That’s where a gas generator comes in. The advantage for us is that we also have a large gas connection. So it’s not just a matter of copying it one, two, three. I can say a little more about that in a moment. But apart from electricity, a gas generator also generates heat, which can also buffer the heat, making the thermal energy storage even more efficient. And we looked at, okay, if December 21, the day with the least daylight, turns out to be a very cold day. What will we be short of in our project? And that would be the maximum number of gas generators you would need to make.

DJ: Of course, you can still oversize, and we can say a little more about that, but you need that to get your project up and running. And with that, we finally had our solution and could at least guarantee that the project would have electricity even on the worst day imaginable.

G: Is it technically feasible to run such a project on gas?

DJ: Yes, that’s definitely possible. I even think it’s possible without solar panels. The efficiency of gas combustion is really very high. Of course, I’ve also gained a hundred years of experience with it, and we don’t need everything. So because we already capture part of it with solar panel batteries, it becomes even less. And because you are also very sustainable, the demand is even lower. So yes, it is possible. The estimate is now, and we are still fine-tuning, that even with three three-foot containers. They are not that big. We would have to put down a smaller one to be able to guarantee it. Yes.

G: And can you just get gas on a day like today?

DJ: Yes. Interesting question. We do indeed have the advantage of having that large connection. So it’s fairly easy for us to reopen it. The joke. With gas, it’s exactly the opposite of a trinity. With electricity, you don’t get high consumption, but rather low consumption. And with gas, you no longer get low consumption, but rather high-consumption connections. And for a project like that, you simply need a high-consumption connection, so that’s also possible. Yes, that can also be efficient.

G: And what are the disadvantages of this solution?

DJ: The first thing that comes to mind, of course, is that when you say you have very sustainable projects, you are going to burn gas and there will soon be a pipe sticking out of the ground where the combustion releases its smoke and everything else. I did have problems with that, yes. Yes.

G: And how are the municipality and the network operator responding to this alternative?

DJ: The network operator? Have I discussed it with them? Yes, it basically boils down to them saying that this is the best you can do at the moment. There is no better alternative. The municipality. And that’s actually a bit like the parties that assess us on sustainability. They say, just do it. We’re just glad you’re solving it. And if you don’t do it, then these kinds of projects simply won’t get off the ground. And we don’t want that. That’s kind of where I stand too. If we don’t do it, then so be it. Then we won’t become more sustainable. We can’t. It just comes down to building and renovating with high electricity demands. Making our real estate more sustainable, while that electricity isn’t even there. So just do it. Just get started. And then? Then at least we’ll improve our Our… The quality of our real estate?

G: And is this a temporary or a structural solution?

DJ: It is a temporary solution that can be used structurally. And that brings us back to what we said a few episodes ago. Will the conference actually be resolved at all? I have my doubts. And I do think that we will come up with other types of solutions, but that we are simply not ready for that as a society at this moment, which means that we assume that this will have to continue for a longer period of time.

G: And what impact will this have on the rest of the project? On the homes?

DJ: Yes, they are positive. That the thermal energy storage system will become more efficient, so you will immediately get a better energy demand ratio for those homes. The source will remain more balanced, which makes it much more cost-effective to operate. So there is a positive effect there. Yes, we may come back to this later, but if there really were a pipe coming out of there with clouds of smoke coming out of it, yes, I don’t think those homes would like that very much either. Yes. Yes.

G: But you simply have no other choice.

DJ: No, that’s right, and there are, but there are solutions. So, um.

G: Are there already success stories that have opted for this solution?

DJ: Specifically this solution. Yes, they do exist. They are often on a smaller scale, often logistics hubs that also have a lot of roof space, which means you can install a lot more solar panels. If you take a different approach to sustainability or simply consider it less important, then it is also easier to solve it this way. The extent to which we are currently doing this with sustainability ambitions. Almost off-grid. I say almost because you do have that gas connection, of course. But electrically, you are completely off-grid. We are currently unique on this scale. So it does happen more often with smaller ones, because you have a relatively large roof area, but you really have to go up into the air and solve it completely off-grid. We are the first to do that.

G: We briefly mentioned sustainability earlier. Could you elaborate on that?

DJ: Yes, indeed. We have actually come to that conclusion. A few things came together. So you want to maintain those sustainability ambitions for a better future? But commercially, too, in my view, it is simply sensible to do so, especially at our location. And you can see that those solutions overlap. So the solution lies in the collaboration between those installations. We happened to come across parties who also say we are able to capture emissions. That means all emissions. But then I may be corrected in a moment. But in any case, CO2, nitrogen, particulate matter, and ultrafine particulate matter can be captured. And that means you no longer have any emissions. And then my reasoning is that I don’t dislike fossil fuels. I dislike what it does to the climate. And this way, we can tackle that. And then I have a solution for congestion. I’m not harming the climate in any fundamental way. And of course, you could argue about the way it is extracted, but you can’t be sure whether that electricity comes from a wind turbine or not.

DJ: And in any case, we have neatly resolved the issue within our project for the coming years.

G: So this actually means that the overall picture is there to click on gas after all.

DJ: Yes, that’s right.

G: Okay, great. Well, we’ll continue with that in the next episode.

DJ: Yes, super fun!