Contact:AliceDupuyinfo@construction21.org +33(0)156269004 1

D2GRIDS is an acronym for ‘demand driven grids’. This new Interreg North-West Europe (NWE) project,coordinated by Mijnwater Ltd., aims to upscale 5th generation District Heating and Cooling (5G DHC) grids acrossEurope. Five pilot sites in Paris-Saclay (FR), Bochum (GE), Brunssum (NL), Glasgow and Nottingham (UK) willdevelop 5G DHC grids. The 20 million EUR project is supported by Interreg funds, covering close to 60 % of theoverall budget - 11,6 million euros. D2Grids first k ick-off meeting, held in Heerlen, set the stage for three years ofintense collaboration among European partners to roll out this proven technology.

What is 5G DHC ?

First developed in Heerlen by Mijnwater Ltd., and in contra ry to conventional district heating, this thermal smart gridis based on low temperatures. By a cloud of decentralized heat pumps, located at end-user accommodation, energyis exchanged on the grid, and flows are induced through customer demands. The concept allows large scaleutiliza tion of low tempera ture waste heat, from data centers, supermarkets, industry, etc. The f ive partner pilot s itesaim to connect ca. 50.000m2 of dwellings and/or commercial buildings to a 5GDHC grid.

Mijnwater Ltd is lead pa rtner of this Interreg NWE D2grids project with Herman Eijdems as leading manager of theproject. Herman’s vision about the role of Mijnwater: “The energy transition is the major challenge of this era; the 5GDHC concept, as such, is a powerful and affordable s trategy to deca rbonize building stocks in urban environment allover Europe. In the city of Heerlen we show proven technology and are eager to share our expertise and experiencesto accelerate the developments in other areas.”

Attracting stakeholders to roll out the technology

Upscaling the technology - boosted by transnational cooperation - enables the consortium to raise the interest of theindustry to develop the right products and reduce the costs by 10-20%. VITO in Belgium is a key project partner forindustrializ ing the 5G DHC concept and to evaluate results. In the Parkstad Limburg region Mijnwater cooperateswith Weller Social Housing foundation in order to connect thousands of dwellings during their renovation process.

Moreover, the project will deliver plans to create further s imilar developments in Parkstad Limburg, North-EastFrance, Luxembourg; Flanders, the Ruhr-a rea, Scotland and East Midlands (UK). Dedicated education and trainingprograms, will be set up by Open Univers ity, a partner in the project, bringing in expertise on post-g raduate anddigital learning. The investment-level for such a technology must gain interest from la rge investors (like pensionfunds). Asper-IM from London will pa rticipate by introducing business models and knowledge pla tforms for thefinancial markets.

Commissioned by Mijnwater the applicationwas successfully constructed by EUQuest in Heerlen and Grants EuropeConsulting in Budapest.

MIJNWATERLEADPARTNERD2GRIDSPROJECTRollingout5GDistrictHeating &Cooling

AnewInterregNWEproject

Pressrelease– May2th,2019

Contact:AliceDupuyinfo@construction21.org +33(0)156269004 2

AboutMijnwaterLtd.

12projectpartnersand7subpartners

Subpartners

Full-fledged supplier ofrenewableenergyMijnwaterB.V.(foundedin2013)hastheambitiontoroll outtheproject ofthemunicipality ofHeerleninto afullyfledgedsustainableenergycompany.WiththesaleoftheMijnwatersharesbythemunicipality ofHeerlentoLimburg EnergyFund(LEF)in2018,Mijnwater accomplished thenext steptowards theposition ofbeingamajorgreenenergycompany.LouisHiddes(director): “Wehavetheknowledgetodisconnect neighbourhoods, bothnewandexisting,fromnatural gas.Thisisalreadyapparentinmanyhomes,businessesandschools intheregion.Andwearegoingtoexpandtomanymorelocations inHeerlenandthesurrounding area.“Althoughtheideaofourthermalsmartgridisbornfromutilizing theenormous waterreservoirsinabandonedmines,the5GDHCtechnologyhasbeendevelopedtoapromising concept alsoforcitiesnotallocated toformerminingactivities.Demanddrivenapproachandclosingtheenergyloopareuniversalkeyfeaturesofthisconcept.International recognitionMijnwaterB.V.isgainingmoreandmoreinternational recognition foritsinnovative‘demanddrivensupply’system.Asysteminwhichenergyflowsoccur fromcustomer demandonly,assuchgivingminimallosses,butalsolowtemperature demandisservedbylowtemperature sources.Enablingawiderangeof(waste)sourcestocontributetothermalcomfort inbuildings andutilizing multilevelstoragetoovercometimegapsingeneration anddemand.Smartcontrol accommodatesfurther performance basedonfactors suchasweatherforecasts,cellbalancingandmarketinteraction. Adaptivecontrol andlearningalgorithms generateanoptimumyieldfrommultiple resources,suchassolarenergy(solarthermalandphotovoltaic), wind energy,biomassenergyandindustrial waste.

Mijnwaterenergyisnowanessentialpartofregional2040renewableenergyroadmapandhasbeenincluded intheParkstad Limburg EnergyTransition (PALET)strategy.

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