17 Feb 2016

Rotterdam makes heat roundabout with surplus heat for South Holland

The Heat Roadmap Europe studies have shown how the European countries produce enough surplus heat to provide district heating to all of Europe, and now Rotterdam is making this a reality for South Holland.

The industry in the Port of Rotterdam currently produces 150 PJ of heat going to waste, but this amount of heat could heat a small country like Denmark. Now, plans are set in motion to make a “Heat Roundabout” that will eventually bring district heating with all the surplus industry heat to people living in southern Holland.  

The whole district heating network in Rotterdam city is now connected to the residual heat from the port, and the plan is to supply heat to around 350,000 homes and 1000 ha greenhouse complexes in the year 2020, saving 20 PJ of energy per year.

From gas to smart heating

"We aim to make a huge transition in the coming years to turn away from gas and into a smart combination of electric and district heating. The benefits are huge, but with gas so readily and cheap available we will need some major effort to get it done," said director of the Heat Roundabout, Maya van der Steenhoven.

The next step is to connect The Westland area, The Hague and Delft, and in time other suppliers besides the port will also be allowed to distribute heat.  

The Heat Roundabout will be able to incorporate various renewable and local sources of energy and is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by one million tons and improve the air quality considerably by reducing nitrogen emissions. One of the measures to achieve this goal is that the CO2 produced by the port will be transported to the Westland greenhouses to be used by the nursery plants.



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