Green light for Energiepark Ballumerbocht

The municipality of Ameland will develop a new energy park on Ameland together with the Amelander Energy Cooperative (AEC) and Wetterskip Fryslân. The Ballumerbocht Energy Park initially consists of solar panels and a battery pack. Directors of the three parties signed a cooperation agreement today. The energy park is expected to be completed in 2023.

The Ballumerbocht Energy Park contributes to the sustainable energy supply on Ameland. The installation with solar panels will have a size of approximately 3 MWp and will be connected to a battery pack. This gives Ameland the opportunity to temporarily store sustainably generated electricity and use it at times when the solar panels do not supply energy. The energy park will be located on the former landfill in the Ballumerbocht, next to the site of the Wetterskip Fryslân sewage treatment plant.

Energy roundabout

The energy park will become part of the Amelander ’energy roundabout’, which balances energy supply and demand. The park and the battery may be supplemented in the coming years with installations such as a fuel cell, an electrolyzer and a biodigester. This creates an energy system that can produce sustainable electricity, heat, green gas and hydrogen gas. Conversion of one form of energy into another is also possible. This balancing of the Ameland energy system is guided and monitored in the IANOS research program of the European Commission.

Wetterskip Fryslân makes the energy use of the sewage treatment plant more sustainable with the production of the solar park. Greening our own electricity demand contributes to the reduction of fossil CO₂ emissions.

AEC is an energy cooperative with 300 members and 1100 customers. The cooperative aims to develop sustainable energy sources on the island. Together with the municipality of Ameland and energy company Eneco, AEC operates the first solar park on the island (6 MWp), which has been in operation since 2016 and produces above expectations.

Photo: Signing with from left to right councilor Piet IJnsen, Johan Kiewiet (director of the Amelander Energy Cooperative AEC) and executive director Otto van der Galiën of Wetterskip Fryslân.