Nine houses in the Erflanden district in Hoogeveen will switch from natural gas to hydrogen next year. That should have already been done, but the project was delayed. First, a system had to be created that added scent to the substance. That worked, but why is that necessary?
According to project leader Kees Boer of the municipality, this is simple. Hydrogen is odorless, so if there is a leak somewhere in the house you won’t smell it. “Just like with natural gas, an odor is added, that of rotten eggs, in order to find a leak.”
But making that didn’t seem easy. “Safety comes first, so you want to be able to smell a leak. That is simply a strict requirement,” says Boer. Hydrogen is known to be easily flammable. “The first system we developed to add scent didn’t work well enough, so we had to go back to the drawing board. That caused us delays.”
Together with Gasunie and energy company DNV, a solution was developed. “A self-learning system that can see how much hydrogen is used at any time of the day. This way, the right amount of scent is always added,” the project leader explains.
The first houses in the Erflanden will be transferred in January, after which an evaluation by the municipal council will follow and the other 91 must follow. The 100 new-build homes in Nijstad-Oost must also use hydrogen from day one.
The plan was created with money from the government and should be an example for the rest of the Netherlands.
There were plans to switch all 427 houses in the Erflanden to hydrogen. This is no longer feasible due to high energy prices. The plans have therefore been slimmed down.
The installation to pump hydrogen into the neighborhood is located at the NAM Ten Arlo location. Trucks arrive there with containers containing the energy carrier. A hydrogen central heating boiler was installed in the home of the first testers. Hydrogen is more expensive than natural gas, and participants will be reimbursed for the additional costs for the next fifteen years through a subsidy fund.
The plan was delayed several times. Residents also regularly expressed their concerns. They fear that after switching to hydrogen they will no longer be able to return to natural gas. According to the municipality, that is possible.