E.ON power station important for a climate-neutral The Hague
The Hague, 7 November 2008- Thanks to an in-depth modernisation of The Hague combined heat and power plant thousands of families, shops and offices can look forward to a winter in comfort. The E.ON Benelux power company has invested some € 70 million to make the oldest still operational power plant of its category in the Netherlands into the most modern of its kind. This power station has provided The Hague with power for more than a century. Alongside electricity the plant has also acted as a combined district heating and power plant since 1978. Some 30 percent of the heat is supplied to the Government building department. Meanwhile, the Dutch parliamentary complex, Westeinde Hospital and the Des Indes Hotel also get their heat from E.ON.
At the end of 2005 as purchaser and distributor of heat, E.ON and ENECO, together with the city of The Hague, reached an agreement to modernise the power station. This match aims to realise a climate-neutral city in 2010.
According to Joost van Dijk, chair of the board of E.ON Benelux: “We were able to take on this responsibility to society because the city council has given district heating an important place in its policy around CO2.
This is an excellent example of shared, lateral thinking whereby all parties work together to enable this sort of massive investment.”
The modernisation means that E.ON can ensure heat supplies to the city up to 2023. “Although an investment of € 70 million in the recently liberalised energy market entails major risk, stopping heat deliveries just wasn’t an option”, says Joost van Dijk. “We are Holland’s biggest supplier of residual heat. By using this we and our clients cut fuel consumption by some 170 million cubic metres of natural gas.” This means that CO2 emissions are reduced by around 300,000 tons. That’s comparable with exhaust fumes from a hundred thousand cars.
Modernisation work on the power station was realised outside the -heating season, and it is now synchronized. The official reopening is scheduled for Friday 7 November. With two new gas turbines, alterations to the steam boilers, generators and a new control system, the plant will deliver almost 15% more electricity, using the same quantity of fuel. This puts The Hague on an important step forward toward the climate-neutral status in 2010.