Alphen on its way to becoming a Glanskern

by Menno Stijl 

A Glanskern is a lively village centre or neighbourhood or more that consists of a mix of single-family homes and flats, both rental and owner-occupied. In this community, you will find schools, nurseries, churches, a library, sports clubs and a community centre. There are also shops, restaurants and offices of local businesses and organisations, as well as commercial premises where products are manufactured, assembled, transported and sold. Charging stations for electric vehicles are available in various locations.

Many roofs are covered with solar panels, and the neighbourhood has an energy cooperative in which residents work together with the local council. This cooperative has installed one or more wind turbines on the outskirts of the town. For houses that cannot have enough solar panels, shared solar panels are available. When the sun is not shining but the wind is blowing, the wind turbine supplies electricity to the neighbourhood.

The neighbourhood shares energy with each other, including local businesses such as the baker and the plumber. The profits from this energy do not go to anonymous shareholders of large energy companies, but flow back into the community.

On sunny days, surplus electricity can be stored in a neighbourhood battery or in the electric cars that residents share with each other. The energy can also be sold on the energy market or used in the event of grid congestion, with the proceeds being reinvested in the neighbourhood. This could go towards shared cars, refurbishing the community centre, neighbourhood days or a community vegetable garden.

Local energy sharing helps to reduce grid congestion and imbalance, especially when the right conditions are in place. By sharing energy, we encourage local and simultaneous use, for example through local tariffs. This contributes to affordable energy bills and reduces energy poverty.

This village centre or neighbourhood has a good mix of energy users: comfortable, energy-efficient homes, commercial premises and social real estate. With wind turbines and solar panels, the community ensures a sustainable energy generation profile. Storage in neighbourhood batteries and possibly also in heat or hydrogen for colder periods helps to balance supply and demand. All this is managed by a distributed balance management system that measures, controls and predicts.

This creates a wonderful community in balance.

Menno Stijl is a board member of Regional Energy Transition at Energiek Alphen aan den Rijn.
Would you like to respond? Please email Menno.Stijl@energiekalphen.nl