Best Local Energy Initiative of the province of Utrecht 2024: Soester Energy Cooperative

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Enterprising

REGION > The Soester Energy Cooperative has won the award for the Best Local Energy Initiative of the province of Utrecht 2024. This was announced tonight at the Evening full of Energy, an event organized twice a year by U-Thuis in collaboration with the Nature and Environment Federation Utrecht (NMU).

Last year, the petting zoo in the Overhees district in Soest was heated as a test with heat from a pond using a heat exchanger. The aim is that 1,100 homes will ultimately be able to use gas because the homes are heated and cooled from a low-temperature heating network. Another advantage is that the ponds cool down, which has a positive effect on biodiversity.

Jury member Dymph Hoffmans called it one “original and creative project, which would not have happened if a few residents had not been crazy enough to start it.”

Read the entire jury report here and watch the video in which Soester Energie introduces itself.

With the prize, the members of Soester Energie will rent an excavator to lay the pipes for the test homes and of course have a small party.

The prize for best energy initiative is awarded every year by Service Point Energy Utrecht for the efforts of volunteers who work on sustainable energy for and by residents. The initiatives are assessed for impact, innovation, local support and linking the energy transition with other themes. The other nominees were De Eigenwijkse Energie Cooperative (Wijk bij Duurstede) with the Local Charging Power project, with which they installed charging stations that supply locally generated energy, and Rijne Energie (Utrecht) with a wind farm with four wind turbines that should provide 8% of the electricity in the province of Utrecht. going green. The Evening Full of Energy is for energy initiatives, energy ambassadors, interested residents, administrators and employees of municipalities in the province of Utrecht.