Building a new energy infrastructure

The Dutch aim to have a carbon-neutral energy system by 2050. Everyone has a part to play in focusing on alternative power sources, energy efficiency, storage and transport systems, carbon capture technologies and more.

The quest: introducing electricity, hydrogen and other energy sources as an alternative for almost every industrial application, such as manufacturing, high-temperature processing, shipping or daily port activities. There are many challenges to realise this goal and they provide scale-ups with the opportunity to bring their solutions to Rotterdam and its maritime ecosystem.

A new energy infrastructure is needed. Rotterdam is perfectly positioned to realise that. It is a global logistics hub, enabling production, transport, import and export of green energy in the years to come. In the video below, TNO energy expert Rene Peters shares his view on the future.

Innovation support

Rotterdam believes in facilitating research and ideation and then execute. From Hoek van Holland to Rotterdam to Gorinchem (a 75km-long maritime region along the Maas River), you’ll find a no-nonsense business climate embedded in a supportive ecosystem of large and small companies, governmental and scientific institutions, investors, and other stakeholders.

Start-up and scale-up accelerator PortXL is one of them. You can hear what Hedi Visscher (PortXL) and Christiaan Claessens of marine contractor Van Oord have to say about this ecosystem in the video below.

Example: QuinteQ Energy Storage

An innovation that literally started to fly after a year of active guidance and help by the PortXL accelerator programme, is QuinteQ’s flywheel energy storage solution.

This virtually frictionless kinetic battery is used for peak shaving. By taking power peaks out of the existing grid, the grid becomes much more efficient and/or companies can electrify their operations with this containerised ESS. Currently, QuinteQ is testing power solutions for military compounds as well as port for port operations.

Check out what Timo Pauel says about why coming to Rotterdam boosted their business in the video below.