The Netherlands – Plans for the Diemen biomass power plant have been abandoned by Vattenfall. In order to look into potential alternatives, the corporation is currently in talks with the concerned municipalities, the province of North Holland, and outgoing Minister Jetten of Climate and Energy.
At the end of August, the Council of State revoked the biomass plant’s environmental authorization since the wood pellets it was using had to be considered waste. Therefore, before the permit could be issued, Vattenfall should have submitted an environmental impact assessment. The company now claims that because creating an EIA takes so much time, it could be beneficial to continue researching alternative heat sources. Geothermal energy, waste heat from hydrogen production and data centers, aquathermal energy, and converting existing gas power plants to be hydrogen-compatible are all topics that Vattenfall is taking into consideration.
Discussion
In order to determine which ideas it can advance and scale up even further, Vattenfall will now discuss with the municipalities of Amsterdam, Diemen, and Almere as well as the province of North Holland and the Dutch government. The company underlines that in order to do this, the authorities must provide them with enough support. Major investment choices for lengthy projects can only be made when there is a defined policy, institutional backing, and cooperation between the stakeholders. Furthermore, according to Vattenfall, the bioheat plant is more expensive than other district heat sources.
