Since the municipal reorganisation in 2014, Alphen aan den Rijn has consisted of several centres. Each village has its own character, social ties and culture. Actively involving preferably all residents and entrepreneurs in building an active community of residents, businesses and other organisations, such as the municipality and the network operator, requires a local approach in each village centre and in Alphen aan den Rijn itself. A tailor-made approach is a crucial success factor for building a functioning energy community.

The municipality of Alphen aan den Rijn has nine village centres: Alphen aan den Rijn, Benthuizen, Hazerswoude-Dorp, Hazerswoude-Rijkdijk Oost, Hazerswoude-Rijndijk West, Koudekerk aan den Rijn, Aarlanderveen, Zwammerdam and Boskoop. The village centres vary in size. Each village centre consists of at least two neighbourhoods: the old centre and the new development since around 2000.

In 2024, energetic Alphen aan den Rijn launched a pilot project to establish an energy community in Benthuizen. Click here For more information. In Benthuizen, we want to learn so that we can scale up later. Armed with this experience, we will also start work in Hazerswoude-Rijndijk East in 2025.

With the support of the umbrella organisation Energiek Alphen and the local council, the energy communities that have been established are able to develop into highly self-sufficient energy communities (Local4Local). We are joining existing initiatives. In Hazerswoude-Rijndijk, energy is already being generated by a wind turbine and a commercial solar park. In mid-2020, an apartment complex with its own heating network was built in Rijndijk. The complex's heat pump is connected to a shared ground source heat pump.

In the final situation, the municipality of Alphen aan den Rijn will be largely self-sufficient in terms of electricity and will not use fossil fuels for heating, electricity or industrial processes.

From individual to collective

Meeting on 11 November 2024

On 11 November 2024, leaders from various village centres, neighbourhoods, associations and organisations in Alphen society attended the Smarter Sustainability Together meeting, organised by Energiek Alphen aan den Rijn (EA). They discussed energy saving and the generation and sharing of sustainable energy. What are the possibilities for this and how can we become smarter together?

The meeting was for administrators/volunteers involved in managing buildings (such as a clubhouse or community centre) or representing the interests of residents in their village centre or neighbourhood. So the participants also brought stories from their own neighbourhoods. “We gave them plenty of space to share their own experiences, because we've noticed that real-life stories generate a lot of enthusiasm among others,” says Erik de Ruijter, chair of Energiek Alphen aan den Rijn and initiator of the Samen Slimmer meeting.

“Most residents have already insulated their walls and floors and installed solar panels, and in some cases a heat pump or solar boiler. The quick wins have often already been implemented. However, there are many more opportunities to save energy and reduce energy costs, for example by generating sustainable energy collectively and sharing it with each other. We want to move from individual to collective action. In an energy community, you help each other to identify the possibilities. What about storing energy in batteries? What can wind energy offer? Can residents share energy with each other? When is the right time to start new developments? What about the costs and what subsidies are available? We discussed all of this together.“

The road to such energy communities is long, agrees the EA chairman. “If many residents of a neighbourhood have already taken individual measures in their homes, new joint projects are slow to get off the ground. Technological developments can also slow down sustainability. People become cautious because they don't want to make the wrong choices. However, our pilot in Benthuizen proves that you can take steps together. Following a Samen Slimmer (Smarter Together) meeting in October, two working groups have now been set up there.” One working group is concerned with the formation of the energy community in the village and the other with ‘Alternative heating’. Read more here.

Smarter Together Alphen aan den Rijn

“We understand that saving energy is not a primary objective for a board member of a sports club, a social organisation or the village council. That's logical, because they are committed to their village, neighbourhood or association,” says De Ruijter. “But you can take many energy-saving measures with local residents and association members. As Energiek Alphen, we wanted to use this evening to find out what promising sustainability plans exist and then see how we can follow up on them. We will now continue to work on this.”