In the Netherlands, Sweden-headed energy utility major Vattenfall Group has announced that it has been granted a permit and Dutch SDE++ subsidy to build a 150 MW “Power-to-Heat” E-boiler at the company’s combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) heat and power (CHP) plant Diemen in Amsterdam. The final investment decision is scheduled for mid-2022 after the recently initiated tender has been completed. The E-boiler is believed to be the largest in Europe and can be put into use in 2024.
The Dutch SDE++ scheme provides subsidies for the use of techniques for the generation of renewable energy and other carbon dioxide (CO2) reducing techniques. SDE++ subsidies are awarded over a period of 12 or 15 years, depending on technology.
We are very glad to have been awarded both the permit and the SDE++ subsidy for building a large 150 MW E-boiler at Diemen. Vattenfall wants to supply 100 percent sustainable heat in the Amsterdam region by 2040. In addition to E-boilers, Vattenfall is therefore also working on a number of other sustainable heat sources, such as biomass, geothermal, data center heating, and aqua thermal heat, said Ulrika Jardfelt, Head of Business Area Heat at Vattenfall.
The E-boiler is similar to a ‘kettle’: the installation converts electricity into hot water, which can be supplied to households and companies or that can be stored in the already present heat buffer, a large ‘thermal flask’
The E-boiler only switches on if the electricity mix is sustainable with a lot of electricity from solar and wind. When there is insufficient green energy, the gas-fired power plants in Diemen are still needed to produce electricity – power plants that also supply heat very efficiently. We expect that these gas-fired plants will remain necessary in the coming decades for the security of supply in the Netherlands; first on natural gas, but later hydrogen from renewable sources, said Alexander van Ofwegen, Director of Heat Vattenfall Netherlands.
With the currently expected deployment of the E-boiler, Vattenfall initially expects to be able to supply approximately 15 percent of the heat in the Amsterdam region with renewable wind and solar electricity.
However, the number of hours that the E-boiler can run will increase in the coming years, given the growth in the number of wind and solar farms in the Netherlands.
In 2019, Vattenfall commissioned a 120 MW e-boiler in Berlin, Germany which so far is the largest within the company.
