WarmteStad (Heat City) ready to start installing a heat grid

At the beginning of July, after a lengthy period of meticulous preparations, WarmteStad will start constructing Warmtenet Noordwest, a heat grid in the north-west of the city of Groningen. The work will begin at Zernike Campus, because this is the location of the heat source which will provide numerous buildings, offices and housing complexes on the campus and in the city with geothermal heating.

To minimise potential nuisance, we have scheduled the work activities to take place during the summer holidays insofar as possible. Installation of the heat grid will start on Monday 3 July and will mainly be concentrated along Blauwborgje road during the summer months. Part of that road with be completely closed to traffic from 3 July until the beginning of September. The area affected will be the part between De Mudden and the corner of ACLO sports centre, and a route diversion will be in place so that De Mudden and the sports centre remain accessible. Installation of the grid at De Mudden and Zernikelaan will take place from September to October.

Preliminary work
A basic principle behind the installation of the Warmtenet Noordwest heat grid is that disturbance to flora and fauna must be kept to a minimum. Unfortunately, this will not always be possible. As from Monday 26 June, a total of 48 trees will have to be felled along the green strip to the west of the sports grounds, between Blauwborgje and the Jaagpad. The cycle path between the Jaagpad and Blauwborgje will be closed to traffic from 26 June till the heat grid has been installed at this location. New trees and bushes will be planted then.

The future
As soon as the heat grid has been installed at the Zernike site, work will start on the rest of the grid, proceeding under the Ring Road and towards Paddepoel-Noord, Selwerd and other districts of the city. In the Autumn, work will start on connecting the actual geothermal energy system, which will pump the hot water to the surface. We are looking at a future here in which more than 10,000 households will be supplied with sustainable heating rather than energy from natural gas. On Zernike Campus, several buildings belonging to the University of Groningen and the Hanze University of Applied Sciences will also be connected to the geothermal heat grid.