Sustainable future for the Vijf Eiken – Heihoef business park in Oosterhout
Vijf Eiken – Heihoef business park is an important business park in Oosterhout. It is a hub of activity and employment. To maintain this for the future, the province, municipality and entrepreneurs make agreements about making the business park more sustainable. To this end, deputy Erik Ronnes, councilor Dees Melsen and 11 entrepreneurs signed the Five Eiken – Heihoef Implementation Plan on Wednesday, March 8 at De Oosterhoutse Golf Club. A speech was given and the plan was discussed from various themes.
Grote Oogst
Vijf Eiken – Heihoef is one of thirteen industrial estates in North Brabant that falls under the provincial project ‘Grote Oogst’ to make existing industrial estates more sustainable more quickly. With a budget of 750,000 euros from the province, municipality and entrepreneurs together, Vijf Eiken – Heihoef will pay real attention to energy transition, climate adaptation, smart mobility, circular economy and nitrogen in the next 4 years.
Councilor Dees Melsen: “I am pleased that Vijf Eiken – Heihoef is one of the 13 industrial estates that fall under the ‘Grote Oogst’ project. In this way, through all measures taken together, we remain an attractive business park for employers and employees. It is a major task that requires good cooperation between all parties. We can learn a lot from this project and we are already looking forward to more.”
Implementation Plan Vijf Eiken – Heihoef
The plan describes, among other things, the realization of a biodigester and a Local Energy Hub. With the biodigester installation, the development of which will be further developed in the coming year, 40 to 50 million m3 of biogas (CO2 neutral) can be produced from organic residual materials. This biogas can be supplied to Rodenburg, Biopolymers and other companies on the industrial estate, including Tatasteel, Bostik, Döhler, Mauser and Vacumetal. But also to other industrial estates, such as Weststad and possibly also to residential areas in Oosterhout.
The biogas can also be converted into electricity via a combined heat and power (CHP) system. This project can potentially contribute to an enormous CO2 reduction and become an important part of an energy-neutral business park. With the required Local Energy Hub, sustainable energy from the biodigester, but also from solar panels, for example, is exchanged locally between the companies.
A NL Environmental Scan was carried out for the first time in the Netherlands
In addition to these “iconic projects”, we will also be working on climate adaptation, circular economy and smart mobility at the business park in the coming years. For climate adaptation, a NL Environmental Scan of the business park was carried out for the first time in the Netherlands last month. This scan shows how climate-proof the site is and what risks there are of heat stress and flooding. With this scan we investigate where on the site more space can be made for trees, plants and water. This ensures water collection and biodiversity. It also reduces heat stress and nitrogen emissions.
Circular economy
In the circular economy we look at whether residual flows from one company can serve as raw materials for another company. An example is the feasibility study into a water roundabout that will be carried out this year on the industrial estate. This involves examining whether waste water from one company can play a role in the primary process of another company. For example to cool, rinse or heat.
Smart mobility
For smart mobility, we look at whether joint mobility measures can be taken on the industrial estate. To minimize the upcoming disruption caused by the widening of the A27.
Energy consumption
The province of North Brabant gave the starting signal for the Grote Oogst project in 2021. 13 areas of research have emerged due to the major combined challenge and the opportunities this entails. The sites together account for 65 percent of the energy consumption on Brabant industrial estates.