The students of the new Zilverackers Bredeschool in Veldhoven can still go there from April. The municipality has found an emergency solution for the two primary schools and two childcare centers that cannot be connected to the overcrowded power grid for the next five to ten years. As a temporary solution, the municipality will install a battery that is the size of a shipping container.
The large battery is placed next to the school and is slowly charged via a construction connection. This is a temporary electricity connection that is still used by the construction workers to build the school. As a backup, there is a diesel generator that runs on the most sustainable diesel.
Municipality continues to investigate
The construction connection will be kept for a little longer than usual, so that there is an emergency solution and the municipality can look for a solution for the longer term. In February, the municipality will look at which companies can help with this.
The new school building in the new Huysackers district will soon have two schools: Dick Bruna and De Brembocht. Two childcare organizations are also moving to the new building. The building will soon have room for almost six hundred children.
Rules still need to be adjusted
The new school building was built sustainably according to the ‘zero on the meter’ principle: the building generates as much energy as it consumes. It has no gas connection, but it does have solar panels and heat pumps. The school does need a heavy power connection, but that is not available for the time being because grid operator Enexis no longer has space.
Connections to the electricity grid are now allocated in order of registration. So: first come, first served. Supervisory Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) is currently working on new rules that should allow parties that serve a social interest, such as schools, to be given priority. But those new rules have not yet been approved.
The councilor was previously disappointed that the new school building cannot be connected.