Realising a natural gas-free Rotterdam district

In Rotterdam’s Bospolder-Tussendijken district (BoTu), the first homes have been disconnected from the gas grid. Housing corporation Havensteder, the municipality of Rotterdam and Eneco are jointly working on a natural gas-free district. 

The local area agreement was signed in 2021, and the first homes are connected to Eneco’s heat network. The BoTu district is one of the first districts in Rotterdam to switch to sustainable district heating.

District heating is the easiest and cheapest solution for natural gas for BoTu. District heating makes use of the residual heat of the Rotterdam harbour to heat homes and tap water. In the future, cooking will only be possible electrically. After being hooked up to district heating, residents will no longer need a gas water heater or boiler to heat water and will then be cooking electrically. This will result in a CO2 reduction of 66% compared to a central heating boiler.

The energy transition is also being taken advantage of to strengthen the position of the residents in the district in the area of work, debts, language and care. Eneco has also joined the ‘Better for BoTu and Better for the Environment’ partnership agreement. For example, working with the district’s language and environmental coaches creates a connection between reduced CO2 emissions and the efforts to fight lack of fluency in Dutch and energy poverty.

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