Making City
Demonstrating and further developing the smart city of Groningen with a focus on energy-positive buildings and matching energy supply and demand.
Europe has major climate ambitions and major challenges to realise these ambitions. Cities play an essential role in this. The European Commission has set up the European project Making City so that cities can set to work on energy transition in a targeted manner and learn from each other in the process. Two European cities have been designated as Lighthouse Cities: Groningen and Oulu. This project started in December 2018 and will last for 5 years.
Positive Energy District
The Lighthouse Cities are gaining experience in creating Positive Energy Districts (PED). The houses and buildings within such a district are made sustainable to such an extent that they produce more energy than they consume. This ensures that other districts in the city, which are difficult to make sustainable, can make use of this surplus energy. As a result, the city as a whole can consume as much energy as it generates.
Six other European cities have been designated as Follower Cities and will replicate the PEDs of Groningen and Oulu.
PED Noord en PED Zuid
Two PEDs have been determined for Groningen, one in the North and one in the South of the city. They are two completely different districts in terms of building infrastructure, functions, residents and so on.
PED Noord (North) consists of the Zernike Campus and the Paddepoel residential area. On the Zernike Campus is a source of district heating that will heat the Paddepoel district, among others. Residents of this district are actively involved in this process. There are also 4 households in Paddepoel that have registered their house as a Making City demo house and will receive (financial) support from the Making City project to make their house more sustainable. Activities such as the Sustainable House Day enable local residents to have a look at these demo houses from the inside and gain inspiration for making their own homes more sustainable. Citizen participation is therefore an important part of PED Noord.
PED Zuid (South) covers the Europapark and the surrounding area. This area is mainly characterised by industrial, tertiary buildings and some residential buildings. The district is a mix of older and new buildings. The buildings selected for PED South represent this; the old very energy-intensive Mediacentrale with its offices, the new Powerhouse building (a combination of offices and flats) and the new Europapark Sports Centre which is already energy-positive. In addition, there are two solar parks in PED Zuid that supply the district with electricity and a solar bicycle and pedestrian path is being constructed. The district heating network is already in place, but will grow during the project period, with, for example, the Powerhouse also being connected.
New Energy Coalition's role
New Energy Coalition is engaged in several activities within the Making City project. Firstly, the calculation of business cases for various technologies that are implemented in the project. This involves looking at the extent to which the innovations are financially feasible and whether they can also be replicated in comparable and alternative scenarios. In addition, research is being done in collaboration with TNO into the Urban Financial Metabolism model and how this can contribute to combating energy poverty in the municipality of Groningen.
Furthermore, it is being investigated to what extent the participating cities are capable of realising effective sustainable energy policies and thereby Energy-Postive Districts. The aim is to develop strategies based on best practices and to convert shared knowledge into practical approaches. Finally, New Energy Coalition has an explicit role in the communication and dissemination regarding the activities that take place within the pilots of Lighthouse Groningen.
Practical information
- Programme: Horizon 2020
- Duration: December 2018 – December 2023
- Budget: 2.7 million euro (including budget for Heat City)
- More information: makingcity.eu
