Rotterdam,
13
May
2019
|
13:22
Europe/Amsterdam

Smart device at boiler captures peaks in wind and solar energy

Eneco customers with an electric boiler are going to help with capturing peaks in wind and solar energy. They will be able to do this by means of a smart device next to their boiler that will also ensure that warm water will be available for these customers more frequently. This device, the SmartBoiler Module [SlimmeBoiler Module] is already installed at the homes of more than 2000 customers.

About a quarter of a million households in the Netherlands have an electric boiler in their home that supplies hot water. In most households, the water in the boiler is heated late in the evening, which means that warm water is available the next day until the boiler is empty. Eneco believes there is a smarter and more sustainable solution for this. This is why the SmartBoiler Module was developed: a device installed next to the boiler that heats the water at moments when Eneco has a large supply of wind or solar energy. The module has its own SIM card that has a connection with Eneco and can, therefore, provide more efficient heating by continuously monitoring the water in the boiler and heating it intermittently. As a result, hot water is available for our customers more frequently and, at the same time, these customers contribute effortlessly to increasing the sustainability of the energy system.

Evert Jan Althuis, innovations manager at Eneco: “Our electricity grid will have to cope with increasing fluctuations in the supply of wind and solar energy over the coming years. Increasing the capacity of the grid is an expensive alternative, which is why we are searching for innovations that can link together supply and demand in a smart manner. In this respect, households that consume larger amounts of electricity are the most interesting, because the annual amount of electricity used by all the electric boilers together is almost equal to the production of 600 wind turbines.”

Cooperation

During the course of the year, Eneco will install SmartBoiler Modules at tens of thousands of customers who rent a boiler and also obtain their energy from Eneco. It is expected that, in time, the module will also become available for households that do not have an energy contract with Eneco. Eneco carries out the development and installation of the SmartBoiler Module in collaboration with Peeeks, RoamlerTech, TWTG, T-Systems and Bureau Hezelburcht. This Eneco initiative is facilitated in part by the proof-of-concept energy innovation subsidy [Demonstratie Energie-Innovatie] granted by the central government with the aim to stimulate sustainable economic growth by means of energy innovations.

More information on the SmartBoiler Module can be found on the website.