Summary Thermo Bello: Energy for the neighbourhood – New Utilities in Practice Gerwin Verschuur, Thermo Bello InnovationNetwork Report No. 10.2.242, Utrecht, The Netherlands, September 2010. Energy company Thermo Bello is a New Utility Company. It was set up in November 2008 by a small group of neighbourhood residents with the approval of the members of the residents’ association to take over an existing heating network from water company Vitens. In January 2009 it started delivering low-temperature heating water for space heating to residents and business users in the EVA-Lanxmeer neighbourhood in Culemborg. Thermo Bello can and wants to serve as an example for initiatives elsewhere in the Netherlands. The example cannot be exactly replicated because Vitens has no further heating networks for sale in the Netherlands. This publication is intended to share the acquired knowledge and experiences with people already involved in, or seeking to become involved in, local energy generation. This could be a group of entrepreneurial neighbourhood residents or an association, business, housing association, municipality or provincial authority with ambitions in this field. The knowledge and experiences that Thermo Bello has acquired sprang from questions that demanded answers. These answers play a central role in this publication because we expect that similar questions will need to be addressed when creating sustainable local energy companies in the future. The chapter on backgrounds answers questions about the reasons for setting up a local energy company in Culemborg, both from the perspective of neighbourhood residents and from the perspective of water company Vitens. In the chapter on objectives, supply and demand we describe the objectives, customer groups and products of Thermo Bello. Thermo Bello is an energy company that started to supply district heating in the EVA-Lanxmeer neighbourhood, with the ambition to reach across the boundaries of the neighbourhood in order to make a contribution towards the development of local sustainable energy companies in which end users have an active say. The chapter on organization looks at the requirements that the energy company had to meet in order to gain sufficient support in the neighbourhood. We answer questions about the legal form, control, key positions, supervision, involvement of neighbourhood residents and the division of tasks and responsibilities. In the chapter on district heating technology we give answers to basic questions about heat production, transportation and supply. Thermo Bello produces low-temperature heating water by extracting heat from drinking water using a heat pump. This heating water is transported through underground pipelines, while the cooled-down water is returned through pipelines in the opposite direction to the heating station. The efficiency of the heat pump is the most important factor for the profitability of the energy company. The chapter on the ownership of the network and energy equipment provides answers to questions about the ownership and valuation of the 41 Pagina 46
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