The New Energy Coalition is a network and knowledge coalition that is committed to a smart and successful transition to the sustainable energy system of the future. The network consists of knowledge institutions (applied and scientific), companies (large and small) and governments (regional, national and international) that wholeheartedly support the energy transition. Its centre is based in Groningen in the Northern Netherlands.
Every issue along the way to a successful energy transition requires different partners and forms of co-operation. New Energy Coalition tailors the co-operation process according to the specific need and keeps the process going, sometimes as organiser, sometimes as project or programme manager, facilitator, accelerator, supporter or co-or-dinator. The New Energy Coalition is guided by five key themes:
- Local Energy Systems
- North Sea as an Energy System
- Green Hydrogen Economy
- Greening of the Gas System
- Industrial Transformation.
The New Energy Coalition is the catalyst behind “Hydrogen Energy Applications for Valley Environments in Northern Netherlands” (HEAVENN), a six-year large scale demo project in which more than thirty public and private parties from six countries (Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland and Spain) are contributing to the construction of a hydrogen network in the Northern Netherlands. From large-scale production of hydrogen to the expansion of the number of hydrogen vehicles and refuelling stations, and from underground hydrogen storage to hydrogen to heat residential areas. All these initiatives are being developed in conjunction, which has put the region on the international map as the exemplary region for hydrogen. Also, the Northern Netherlands is the first region to receive a subsidy for HEAVENN from the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU). A subsidy of 20 million euros with a public-private cofinancing of 70 million euros brings the total project size to around 90 million euros.
Medium-term ambitions of the Northern Netherlands are set out in the "Northern Netherlands Hydrogen Investment Plan 2020: Expanding the Northern Netherlands Hydrogen Valley" published in October 2020. To realise the Northern Netherlands ambition in a systemic way, a road map has been implemented following two phases:
- Phase 1: Mature and scale (2020 to 2025). Moving to 2025, the Northern Netherlands will mature and scale up between 5 to 10 PJ of hydrogen capacity per annum with various projects in place across the value chain, from production and infrastructure to end use cases.
- Phase 2: Northwestern European expansion (2025 to 2030). From 2025 onwards, the Northern Netherlands will expand its reach to serving the Northwestern European hydrogen markets with 400 PJ per annum of addressable hydrogen demand by 2030. Large projects will drive integrated hydrogen ecosystems (NortH2, HyNetherlands phase 2 and 3, H2M) while domestic and cross-border connec-tions will connect the Northern Netherlands to Northwestern European offtake markets (Benelux, Germany, France).
