Amersfoort Installs Smart Battery Technology to Ease Grid Congestion

Amersfoort councilwoman Astrid Janssen and regional director of
De Alliantie Joan van der Burgt inspect the new battery

The City of Amersfoort (the Netherlands) recently collaborated with social housing provider de Alliantie to install the city’s first smart battery – tackling grid congestion and improving the dispatch of clean local energy.

Bax & Company gave strategic guidance and managed the collaboration that installed a 160kW battery in De Alliantie’s De burgemeester Molendijkflat apartment building. The battery will be operated by energy service provider Petawatts.

The battery pilot is a particularly important step for the City of Amersfoort, who are taking a leadership role in their local energy system. The project is the city’s first step to becoming a coordinator of local energy marketplace solutions aimed at solving local grid congestion.

Amersfoort’s Smart Battery will:

Provide clean energy 24/7

Connect to the rooftop solar panels to power the building’s lifts and lighting at all times of day

Cut energy bills

Reduce energy costs by around 15% – a saving that will be passed on to tenants

Offer grid balancing

Offer smart balancing services to the grid to ease grid congestion

Unveiled this week by councilwoman Astrid Janssen and the regional director of De Alliantie Joan van der Burgt, the installation marks an important step forward for the Netherlands in their clean energy transition.

Our Urban Energy team gave strategic guidance and managed the collaboration between Amersfoort and De Alliantie, energy service provider Petawatts and technical specialist Baas BV.

The next step is to test the optimal balance between self-consumption and grid services, which will take place this year.

This pilot project was funded by ACCESS, which is helping local authorities in Europe lead their local energy transition with energy planning, business model development and technology piloting.

The Congestion Problem

Cities in the Netherlands advancing the energy transition face a growing problem with grid congestion. Locally-installed renewables are pushing more ‘traffic’ onto local wires. In some cases, the risk of congestion is delaying city development projects.

Cities cannot complete the renewable transition at the pace they need without tackling congestion. Fortunately, with the right tools and energy strategy, smart batteries like Amersfoort’s will soon allow cities to solve congestion while staying on course ambitious transition plans.

 

Rolf Bastiaanssen

Partner and Head of the Urban Energy Team

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