EU Tracker – Local heating and cooling planning in the Netherlands
Summary
What is the status of the transposition of Art 25.6(EDD) and its implementation ?
The Netherlands offers a positive example of how introducing mandatory heating and cooling planning for local authorities could be done.
Although Dutch municipalities had not a long-term history in terms of energy planning, the Dutch Climate Agreement from 2019 created a national dynamic at local level to develop and implement heat decarbonisation strategies. The different platforms of research, innovation, knowledge and exchange setup by the national government with local authorities and various stakeholders facilitate the alignment of visions between the national, regional, and local levels. The weakest point remains the accessibility of data by municipalities, without any legal framework foreseeing cooperation between municipalities and companies or utilities. The planning of cooling needs and decarbonisation remains a work in progress as well. The recent law (April 2024) “Wet Gemeentelijke Instrumenten Warmtetransitie” (WGIW), makes it possible for authorities to decommission neighbourhoods from the gas infrastructure. The biggest challenge is now in developing the legal and financial instruments allowing municipalities to implement their heat strategies.
Detailed assessment
The legal framework and the obligations
A heat plan mandatory for all municipalities and coordinated across governance levels.
Overview of the legal frameworks per governance level in the Netherlands
| National | Signed in 2019, the Dutch National Climate Agreement puts the objective of a building stock free from fossil gas by 2050 and makes it mandatory for every municipality to establish decarbonisation plans. A deadline for submission of the first municipal plans was set for 2021. A milestone is set for 2030, when 1/5 of the building stock, or 1.5 million should have phased out fossil gas as a source for heating. In 2024, a revision of the Heat Act was adopted. This revision introduces new provisions on gas decommissioning and heat planning, as follow: – Municipalities are allowed to set rules in their local Environnement-Spatial Plan (Omegevingsplan -based on the Environment Act) that exclude the use of gas as a heat supply for buildings. The exclusion of gas can be planned when better climate compatible alternatives are possible at a district scale. – Municipalities and end-users can ask for the abolition of the grid operator’s connection and gas transport charges. This can be asked where the “Omegevingsplan” foresees an alternative to gas (eg: district heating). On the other hand, grid operator may also be requested to reinforce the grid (eg: power grid for the roll-out of heat pumps). – The gas regulator (ACM) is authorized to allow network operators to build up provisions for costs associated with the gas phase out. A revision of the “Environnement Act” was also adopted, amending the following requirements: – The mandatory adoption of a “Heat Programme ” by all municipalities. This requirement was agreed in the Klimaatakkord of 2021 and is now enshrine into law; this is a partial transposition of the EED (Art25.6). The Municipal Council is responsible for the adoption of the Heat Programme and must include consultations of impacted building owners/occupants. Municipalities have now access to two types of data: contact details of the owner of a building, if this is not also the resident or user, and data about the (future) connection of the home to a heat and energy supply. – A stronger legal basis for data management in particular to help municipalities to implement the neighbourhood approach for gas decommissioning. ACM is required to maintain a public register keeping a record of the districts for which “Omegevingsplan” stipulates that gas may no longer be used. This is an extension of the existing gas register that keeps track of where the network operators have the task of establishing new gas connections and where they do not. |
| Regional | Presented in 2020, Regional Energy Strategy (RES) works as a tool to establish the Dutch National Climate Agreement at regional level and gathers public authorities, residents, businesses, grid operators, energy collectives and social organisations. Each region is obliged to develop its own strategy, which had to be adopted by local, provincial and waterboard councils by July 2021. Each RES should be revised every two years to accommodate new insights, innovations, and experiences. Part of the Regional Energy Strategy, the Regional Structure for Heat is an assessment and provision of information of sustainable heat sources within each region. |
| Local | All municipalities must develop a “Heat Programme” on Heat Transition, i.e. a roadmap for sustainable heating. It uses a district per district approach and is based on the Regional Energy Strategy. Local strategies must be revised every 5 years. All municipalities must include, in their local Environnement-Spacial plan (Omegevingsplan), alternative to gas and plan for gas decommissioning at neighbouring levels. |
Content of local heating and cooling plans according to the law
Each municipality must embrace a neighbourhood approach, and each “Heat Programme” on Heat Transition should include:
- Looking at the most affordable alternative to fossil gas at the lowest social total costs;
- Exploring how much cheaper this preferred alternative is compared to the second cheapest alternative;
- A phased termination date for fossil gas supply in various districts, allowing sufficient time for investments in decarbonized heating solutions.This must also be included in the local Environnement-Spacial plan (Omegevingsplan);
- A conditional planning of step-by-step actions, subject to changes according to developments.
The support framework
An overarching financial and technical support available to local authorities, lacking a strong mandate for the access to data
National support platforms have been set up to provide technical support and guidance to local authorities and their stakeholders. They also act as coordination and exchange platforms to align and readjust national, regional, and local plans. Grants are available to get additional expertise, and local authorities can access funding to hire human resources for the planning. However, funding is lacking for local authorities to have the sufficient staff resources to drive the heat plans’ implementation. While some data are accessible to municipalities, there is no consistent framework allowing an open access to all required datasets.
Provided Support
| Technical and organisational | 5/5 | Two platforms have been set up by the national level to support municipalities, in the frame of the Dutch National Climate Agreement. They also collaborate between each other and with the Regional Energy Strategy (RES) groups and gather a variety of stakeholders involved in the decarbonisation of the built environment The Natural Gas Free Neighbourhoods Programme (PAW) platform is managed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs & Climate Policy, the Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG), the Union of Water Boards and the Interprovincial Consultation. Energy professionals are also invited to support the exchange of practices and knowledges. This program offers an online helpdesk in the format of a website dedicated to support Dutch municipalities, with step-by-step guidance for the planning and for the implementation. It provides advise on how to use a district per district approach and analysis when designing a “heat vision” and identifying the most appropriate renewable heat solutions. The Heating Expertise Centre (ECW) focuses on decarbonising the built environment. It gathers the Ministry of Economic Affairs & Climate Policy, the Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations, the Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG), the Interprovincial Consultation, and the Union of Water Boards. It includes in its Advisory Board representatives from energy and building companies, DSOs, and academics. It provides Guidelines published by the national government for municipalities: a Start Analysis (techno-economic analysis tool to illustrate the technological viability, potential for greenhouse gas reduction, and associated costs of five sustainable heating strategies) and a Local Analysis Guide, to help municipalities supplement the Start Analysis model with local data and consider local developments. |
| Financial | 4/5 | Several funding programmes are available through the PAW and ECW platforms: – Living lab experimentation set up with some municipalities. The selected municipalities received a national grant through the PAW programme to pilot sustainable heating and insulation technologies, identify approaches for effective resident involvement, and evaluate measures for cost reductions. Results from the pilots are made available to all municipalities. – The External Advice Heat Transition grant programme offers municipalities financial assistance to receive external expertise they may need to do their plans. A total of €3,305,600 was available in 2020, and €4,028,700 in 2021, with a maximum of €20,660 per municipality. Many municipalities acknowledge the support the funding brings them, but they fear the funding may be insufficient to provide enough long-term support needed to implement their decarbonisation roadmaps. |
| Staff & skills | 4/5 | It has been estimated that Dutch municipalities would need to hire an additional of 2,101 full-time equivalent employees starting in 2022, growing to 5,326 additional full-time equivalent employees in 2030 (compared to 2019) to achieve decarbonisation of building. Heating plans and other documents related to energy planning are often drafted by external contractors. Dutch municipalities can however benefit from support skilled human resources through various initiatives dedicated to heat planning. For instance, municipalities selected to be part of the PAW living lab have received national funding to open a position in charge of drafting the heat vision. The platform allows exchanges of knowledge between municipalities, energy companies, housing associations and academia. |
| Access to data | 3/5 | There is no strong legal framework for municipalities to access data. Some data is easily accessible to municipal planners while others are not shared by companies or utilities. Gas and electricity demand are available on a neighbourhood and postcode level. And estimations of heating demand of residential and commercial buildings are also available at building level. A building registry is available at national level with useful information about building surface and age. However, information about buildings’ refurbishment is not available. Photovoltaic potentials are the only renewable energy sources that are publicly available. Potential for geothermal, wind, residual heat and aquathermal energy potential exist but are not public. Local authorities can easily know the localisation of energy grids but information about their remaining capacities is not always available (for instance for district heating networks). A new registry will keep track of the areas where buildings are disconnected from the gas network. |
