Energy company Vattenfall has officially abandoned their plans of putting up a biomass heating plant in the municipality of Diemen in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. With this development, the company is now looking at more sustainable ways of heat supply, including geothermal energy and harnessing residual heat from data centers.
Vattenfall had been granted a permit for the biomass heating plant by the province of North Holland back in 2019. The decision was already controversial back then, with many citizens and environmental organizations bemoaning the consequences for the environment because of higher emissions.
In August 2023, the Council of State annulled the environmental permit that had been granted for the project. Vattenfall then had to resubmit the application, simultaneously also announcing that they will pause the application and evaluate alternative heat sources.
With the application now canceled altogether, Vattenfall is considering the use of geothermal energy or the waste heat from data centers for heating. According to the company, they had received active support from municipalities and provinces for the development of sustainable heat sources.
Vattenfall is involved in exploration drilling for geothermal in other areas in the Netherlands.
