The city of Amsterdam inaugurated the largest Smart Grid
Alderman Mr. Maarten
van Poelgeest (climate and energy) inaugurated in Amsterdam’s New-West district
the largest smart grid in the Netherlands. Approximately 10,000 households are
using this network, built by network provider Liander. The network enables to
transport on large scale decentralised generated sustainable energy.This grid make it also possible to solve
quickly mayor disturbances. An outage failure of a few hours like recently in
the city Nieuwegein, will be tracked and solved in a few minutes in the
Amsterdam New-West smart grid.
The network is called "smart"
because it is equipped with computer and sensor technology at major
interchanges. In addition, the existing network is strengthened at crucial
spots and the network structure is improved. Liander now controls remotely the
network, something that was not possible in the past. Director Peter Molengraaf
of Liander indicated that the network is now ready to fully exploit the growth
and potential of the electric transport. Amsterdam is one of the leading cities
in the world in the promotion of electrical transport.
Affordable, green power
Mr. Van Poelgeest
praised grid-provider Liander that it creates the conditions for locally
produced green electricity. Amsterdam has strong ambitions to wind and solar
power to produce locally. Maarten van Poelgeest: "It is important to be
independent of fossil fuels mined in unstable regions. Independency ensures
that energy remains affordable for the people of Amsterdam on the long run."
The municipality will facilitate
wind power to cover 30% of the energy needs of households in Amsterdam. The
people in Amsterdam buy more solar panels thanks to the successful city-district
project "Zon op je dak” (sun on your roof), a project strongly supported
by Liander.
New West: the city of tomorrow
Governors of New-West
district, Mr. Paul de Wilt and Mr. Achmed Baâdoud visted in accompany with
Peter Molengraaf and Martin Poelgeest of one of the medium-voltage cabinets.
"The New-West District is the smart and sustainable city-district of the
future. Its fits perfectly with our sustainability ambitions."”, stated
Mr. de Wildt. Mr. Baâdoud added: "This is the reason people want to live
in this district. The smart grid is the city of tomorrow and it started today
here in New-West”.
Amsterdam Smart City
To create this “City
of the Future” various companies, such as the University of Amsterdam, Liander
and KPN are developing and implementing sustainable innovations in the New-West
district under the umbrella of New Amsterdam Smart City. They also test new
possibilities mobility in this area. The new smart grid will clearly the driving
force in the development of this district.