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Aquathermal Advisory Group shares knowledge about energy and water

The urgency of the energy transition requires, among other things, a broad view of all the available sustainable sources of heating and cooling capacity. Municipal authorities and Regional Energy Strategy (RES) regions are in the process of mapping these sources locally for their Heat Transition Visions (TVW) and Heat Regional Structure (RSW). As a result, water companies are being asked more and more often whether they want to provide heating or cooling capacity on the basis of their water infrastructure (aka “aquathermal energy”). In order to share knowledge about aquathermal energy and developments in the field, the Aquathermal Advisory Group (BGA) has been meeting (online) three times a year since early 2020. The BGA also serves as a sounding board for KWR’s research into aquathermal energy in the WarmingUP programme. Interested parties can still get involved.

The BGA was established in response to the need of the drinking water sector to exchange knowledge about energy and water. The group consists of enthusiastic members with extensive knowledge and experience in this field. There used to be a theme group focusing on this field in the sector research for water companies (BTO) but that is no longer the case.

Need for a sounding board

Specific topics covered at the time in the BTO context are now addressed by initiatives in place such as “Blue Networks”. In the case of other topics, such as aquathermal energy, there has been no sector-wide facility for knowledge exchange since 2018. When the Aquathermal Green Deal and the WarmingUP consortium (co-funded by WiCE) was established, KWR felt there was a need for a sounding board to provide substantive advice for research in the field of thermal energy from drinking water (TED). The Aquathermal Advisory Group was established in response to both these needs.

Principal focus

The BGA meets three times a year (online) and its main focus is on:

  1. Substantive advice for the WarmingUP programme relating to KWR research in Theme 3 – Aquathermal Energy.
  2. Knowledge exchange and company-specific initiatives in the field of energy and water. Current developments such as the Heat Act 2.0 and SDE subsidies are also discussed.
  3. Informing BGA members about developments in the Aquathermal Network and about the Aquathermal Green Deal (Aquathermal Network lnking pin).

Maintaining knowledge input

The WarmingUP programme will end on 31 December 2022, after which funding for the BGA from WarmingUP will cease. A review is being conducted to see how the group can continue operating after that time. Given the urgency of the theme, it is important to continue to work together and so new input is very welcome. Are you interested in joining the BGA? Or would you just like to attend a meeting? Please get in touch with Andreas Moerman (see below).

Participants

The current members of the BGA are:

Chair: Ewout Hekhuizen (Dunea Warmte & Koude).
Secretary: Andreas Moerman (KWR).
Participants: Vincent de Laat (Brabant Water), Ortwin Deroo (De Watergroep), Carlijn van der Sande (Dunea Warmte & Koude), Jonne Klaver (PWN), Joost Bouten (Vitens), Theo Venema (Waterbedrijf Groningen), Stefan Mol (Waternet), Erwin de Bruin (WML), Anton Voets (Brabant Water, link with Aquathermal network), André Struker (Waternet, link with Kerngroep WiCE), Rob Eijsink (Vewin), Frank Oesterholt (KWR).

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