Net-conscious building? Frisian builder Dijkstra Draisma was already gaining experience with it when grid congestion was hardly called a problem. In project Buurblok, residents share electricity, heat and two cars. "We needed a battery and this was by far the cheapest solution," explains Wietse de Vries of the innovative construction company. "When we will cross the Frisian border with this? Find locations first."
Wietse de Vries is innovation manager at Dijkstra Draisma and knows how to build net-consciously. Time for an interview about the so-called Neighbor Block. Dick van Ginkel, innovation manager at TBI Woonlab also talks along. His expectations are high: "I think Buurblok can become a very nice export product of the province of Friesland."
Read the story below or listen to the podcast here
Do they still have grid congestion issues in Friesland?
De Vries: “Haha. Of course. We, too, are affected by the fact that connections to the power grid are taking an incredibly long time. As a construction company, we’re actively working to find solutions.”
Are you referring to Buurblok?
“Definitely.”
Let’s go back to the drawing board for a moment. What exactly is Buurblok?
De Vries: “A technical and financial innovation. The leasing concept is the financial side of the story, and from a technical perspective, we looked at how we could supply the homes with heat and electricity using as few installations as possible, so that their load on the grid is kept as low as possible.”
How do you build in a grid-conscious way?
“In short, we use a single heat pump to heat 10 homes, and we also share electricity. Two electric cars provide the necessary battery capacity. Residents can use those shared cars for 13 cents per kilometer. But since those cars are actually away quite often, we ended up installing a battery in the unit itself as well.”
What do the homes look like?
“Just like our other homes, the houses in Buurblok are fully demountable. Only the electrical panel is slightly larger. At an outside temperature of -3 degrees, the well-insulated homes require a thermal capacity of ‘only’ 1.7 kW. We’re now planning to do something similar in Drachten with 40 homes.”
So, in addition to being a construction company, are you also a heat and electricity supplier?
“You can definitely think of us as a heat supplier—we’ve been one for quite some time. We have several ESCOs (energy service companies) on our balance sheet. We have PV panels on the roof combined with two ground-source heat pumps. We’re not an electricity supplier, though. We don’t have a license for that either.”
What was the biggest challenge for this rather unique approach?
“The use of two shared cars. The decision to do so was very simple, because we needed battery capacity to handle the peaks. The cheapest way was to buy a used Tesla. Take the wheels off and you’ve got a battery. But we said: let’s leave those wheels on and let residents actually use the cars—something completely new for us. The experience has been positive. The only problem at one point was that the cars were being used so often that we still had to install a ‘standalone’ battery. By the way, the Tesla became a Kona.”
Who benefits from this solution?
“For the resident, the landlord, and for us. For the resident because they have a very low energy bill; for the landlord because this allows them to add homes to their portfolio; and for us because we can add new knowledge to our toolkit.”
Why aren’t you applying this concept outside of Friesland yet?
“Because we want to carry out the first projects with the housing association WoonFriesland. We’re incredibly busy with that, because even in Friesland, locations are scarce. Are housing associations lining up? Yes, they are, but they also find it a bit daunting. Talking to the real estate department of a housing association is like talking to a turkey about Christmas dinner. Leasing a home isn’t common practice. So housing associations have to get used to that, too.”
You guys say this is a solution to grid congestion. How do grid operators view it?
“When we started Buurblok a few years ago, grid congestion was hardly an issue. So the grid operator involved didn’t really see the urgency at the time. In fact, when we asked for a single central connection, I immediately got a call from Alliander… One connection for ten homes? That’s just not possible.”
Wondering how this story ends? Listen to the latest episode of podcast Bureau Stoer here
Bureau Stoer
Episode 6: Grid Congestion Special | A Frisian Construction Company’s Solution
Featuring: Wietse de Vries, innovation manager at Dijkstra Draisma, and Dick van Ginkel, innovation manager at TBI Woonlab
Presentation: Thomas van Belzen
Editing: Kalynda Haaf (HaafVisual)
Photo | Dijkstra Draisma
Listen to previous episodes of Bureau Stoer here
Episode 5: “Water congestion is the next nightmare for homebuilders”
Episode 4: “Grid congestion is a theoretical problem”
Episode 3: The ever-growing mountain of objections
Episode 2: Special Report on CO2-Neutral Construction | “Installation-Free Construction Is the Future”
Episode 1: “Bureau Stoer is not a glorification of Friso de Zeeuw”
About Bureau Stoer
Bureau Stoer is a weekly, investigative and curious podcast about dossiers that frustrate future area development. Three thinkers of the future and a journalist, together with different experts each time, bite into numerous headache files, such as grid congestion, CO2, nitrogen, climate adaptation and sufficient drinking water connections.
The acronym "Stoer" stands for a built environment that is Smart, Future-Focused, Enterprising, Honest and Realistic. Bureau Stoer aims not only to address and analyze problems, but also to help solve them.
Bureau Stoer's core team consists of three experts in the fields of housing, construction and area development. They are Nicole Maarsen (housing acceleration table, digitalization, smart cities), Dick van Ginkel (TBI innovation manager, regulatory expert) and Jan Willem van de Groep (bio-based building, power accelerator, innovation). The presentation is in the hands of Thomas van Belzen, editor-in-chief of Construction & Installation at the Jaarbeurs.
Tips or comments
Do you have tips for files that Bureau Stoer should get stuck into? Do you have a problem you want to bring to their attention, a solution or an expert? Then send an email to Bureaustoer@jaarbeurs.nl.
