The residual heat discharged by North Holland industry has the potential to heat almost 2 million homes. The Omgevingsdienst Noordzeekanaalgebied was commissioned by the province of North Holland to investigate the amount of residual heat available in North Holland industry.
Understanding the amount of waste heat is a first step to see whether heat that is currently being discharged can be used to heat homes, for example. The study provides a first indication of how much heat in North Holland is currently being released into the air via industrial chimneys and how much heat is being discharged to surface water via cooling water. With this data, municipalities and heat companies can further shape their plans for useful reuse of waste heat.
Energy transition
As part of the energy transition, heat supply in the built environment must be made more sustainable. From 2030, half of the homes must be off gas and thus heated in a different way. Edward Stigter, deputy for Climate and Energy of the province of North Holland: "Residual heat from industry can definitely contribute to this. At the same time, we want to make industry itself more sustainable. This means less residual heat in the future. But energy will always be needed in industrial processes, and so there will always be heat left over that we can use elsewhere. That is and will remain a win-win situation for residents as well as industry."
Residual heat
When generating clean energy, residual heat will also be generated. Such as, for example, in future hydrogen plants and in the production of synthetic fuels. Data centres are also possible sources of heat for a heat network. Industry in the North Sea Canal Area (NZKG) includes these developments in their climate ambitions, described in the Cluster Energy Strategy NZKG.
A complete picture
65 companies in the energy, chemical, food and waste processing industries, among others, were included in the study. These companies account for more than 95 per cent of potential waste heat. This therefore covers almost all relevant industrial companies in North Holland. Whether the heat can actually be used to heat homes depends on, among other things, the temperature and the distance to a heat network.
Collection right
Currently, industry is still allowed to charge a fee for the heat that an energy company comes to collect. But this will change in 2022. Then the Collective Heat Supply Act will come into force and producers will have to make residual heat available to energy companies free of charge. In doing so, the bill encourages the beneficial use of residual heat in the built environment.
