Energy company Vattenfall contemplating selling its heat networks in the Netherlands

Swedish energy company Vattenfall are contemplating selling their heat networks, including those located in the Netherlands. It is one of the options that the company is looking into to cut costs. High expenditure is needed for the heat networks and Vattenfall are researching whether that money would be better spent on other activities.

Vattenfall is also going to look into the future of its heat networks in Sweden and the United Kingdom. The company already sold its heating company in Berlin to the local state government.

Heat networks, also known by some as district heating, transport heat released during industrial processes or waste incineration to heat homes or commercial buildings.

The costs for this alternative to natural gas heating are relatively high. At the same time, customers have been using indoor heating less since the start of the energy crisis to keep their bills affordable. Vattenfall said earlier that this development is putting great financial pressure on its heating networks.

Vattenfall stopped building new heating networks in the Netherlands last year because they anticipated significant financial losses with the heating networks. Despite this, Vattenfall Warmte Director Ahmed Abdisalaam thinks there is a future for district heating in the Netherlands.

The company supplies district heating to around 550,000 homes in Europe, with 280,000 of these in the Netherlands. The Dutch department of Vattenfall district heating supplies around 500 jobs.

It is not yet clear how much time Vattenfall will need to complete the research into the future possibilities for district heating. A spokesperson of the company in the Netherlands has said that it may be the case that everything remains the same after the research. Vattenfall will continue supplying their clients with indoor heating in the mean time.

The Minister of Climate Policy and Green Growth, Sophie Hermans, advised Parliament a few weeks ago that the Cabinet should buy the district heating divisions of Vattenfall and Eneco to fix the issues regarding heating networks.

Amsterdam had also reported weeks ago that their goal of making all the homes in the city free from natural gas will not be achieved. The issues regarding district heating were mentioned as a significant reason for this.