Promoting renewable energies - RETS Project

The Green-Net project of Sittard-Geleen,
Netherlands
Overview
The Green Net is based on the use of industrial waste
heat, an application to reuse energy in a remarkably fair
and practical way, warming houses and business
premises through hot water. In 2010 the municipality of
Sittard-Geleen started the support of a new company
responsible for the delivery of this green energy.
Main points of supply for the new warm water system are
the extensive sites for the chemical industry in the area,
operated by multinationals DSM and SABIC. A smaller
source, but most sustainable in itself, will be the Bio
Mass Central.
The Basic idea
Industry in general and especially production facilities in
the (petro-) chemical sector require huge amounts of
energy - processes also characterised by a large release
of energy through the exhaust of warmth (in various
ways, through air, water). Directly or secondary through
the use of cooling water for machinery and the cooling of
exhaust systems this waste can be collected. Still too
seldom captured and reused, this will change through the
Green Net. Thereby also addressing the problem of the
discharge of cooling water in the natural habitat through
canals and streams; the old way of dealing with industrial
water.
Green Net will provide a rather large area with
renewed energy, providing the technical challenge to
transport it without a too large loss of warmth. The piping
system will have to be optimally isolated, creating
substantial costs. Overall the required 29 kilometre of
piping will cost 27 million euro, almost a million per
kilometre.
Eventually Green Net will connect 5,000 houses and 40
business sites/companies. Compared to present day
energy costs private households are expected to save
1.5 million euro a year. Constructing Green Net will take
up to 5 years. Generating employment during the
process as well as after completion in the exploitation
phase.
The Green Net, the Netherlands
Green Net is expected to save Sittard-Geleen’s citizens
around €1.5 million a year, reducing the use of natural
gas by 20 million m 3 a year, and reducing carbon dioxide
emission by 40,000 tons a year. This project will be
owned by the regional government.
Green Net will cover and connect for example a container
terminal / shipyard, Maastricht Aachen Airport, a football
stadium and numerous houses and industrial premises
along its way.
Contact: http://www.hetgroenenet.nl/
Headline Statistics:
Investment of €27 million;
Yearly Energy savings for citizens of 1.5 million
euro/year;
CO2 reduction of 40,000 tons a year.
RETS Compendium – © 2012 RETS Consortium
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