Utrecht Science Park has not been selected as a natural gas-free testing ground

The Utrecht Science Park has not been chosen as a natural gas-free testing ground and does not receive a contribution of five million euros from the national government. At the beginning of this year, the municipality of Utrecht submitted an application for a living lab for the Utrecht Science Park via the Living Lab program Natural Gas-Free Neighbourhoods. The Natural Gas-Free Neighbourhoods Advisory Committee had to make a choice from 71 applications submitted for the second round of Living Labs for Natural Gas-Free Neighbourhoods. Minister Ollongren of the Interior and Kingdom Relations has determined the final selection of a total of 19 living labs on the basis of the committee's advice. The Utrecht Science Park is not part of this selection.

The government's financial contribution would enable Utrecht University and UMC Utrecht to make their buildings highly energy-efficient and to take the necessary measures to make them 100% suitable for connection to heat-and-cold storage. This is a sustainable method of storing energy in the ground and thus heating or cooling buildings. In addition, the contribution would be used to collaborate on a sustainable and efficient soil energy system in the Utrecht Science Park to which buildings of HU University of Applied Sciences and the Student Housing Foundation (SSH) could also be connected.

Utrecht University is now looking for other means to take the necessary measures to connect buildings 100% to heat-and-cold storage. The costs of this are particularly high for older buildings. For the time being, these buildings remain partially (10-20%) dependent on natural gas; for example, to heat them on very cold days.