What are the possibilities of commissioning an external and independent expert to advise on the heating system in the Nieuwveense Landen district in Meppel. That will be investigated by the city council.
The expert will then look at how the heat network can be operated in the future in terms of technology, finances, sustainability, effectiveness and management. There has been a lot to do about this in the neighborhood for years. The biomass plant.
The fact that politicians are now once again talking about the biomass plant in Meppel is due to two letters submitted. One from residents and one from a working group within the Nieuwveense Landen neighborhood platform, which is looking into the biomass plant. The working group writes to the city council that energy supplier MeppelEnergie does not comply with the agreements. “A sustainable neighborhood would be realized,” writes the working group, which states that there is no question of sustainability. “There is an annual loss of about 170,000 euros in heat.”
The energy supplier is in trouble. Croonwalter&dros (the owner of the biomass plant) has been searching for a solution for ages in vain. Bankruptcy is not ruled out. The working group: “There is an error in the system that has caused MeppelEnergie to run into financial problems. We have the strong impression that MeppelEnergie wants to report this error to the residents. (…) Time and time again, they introduce the new rates too early go. She doesn’t keep to the deadlines.” The municipality of Meppel and Rendo are both half shareholders of MeppelEnergie.
Last year, MeppelEnergie asked its shareholder for remission of its debts and for half a million euros. Both Rendo and the municipality have not responded to this.
“How the neighborhood platform and the working group now explain the situation in the letter surprises us as fellow neighborhood residents,” residents of the Nieuwveense Lands then respond in a letter to the city council. “The district is not informed by the working group of what is being discussed with MeppelEnergie, conversation reports are not shared. There has also been no call for input for that letter.”
Both letters end in the same way. The working group invites politicians to enter into discussions in the very near future. The residents then invited politicians to enter into dialogue with the entire district, and not just with the working group.
“Residents should now be taken seriously. Residents still have the feeling that they are being sent from pillar to post,” says Marisa Grotens on behalf of the VVD. “Since 2021, little or nothing has changed for residents in solving the bottlenecks.”
“Of course we want to discuss developments with residents,” writes Mayor Richard Korteland on behalf of the city council in response to all residents of the Nieuwveense Landen.