Feb 29, 2008 | Amsterdam Nuon and the municipality of Almere sign Sun Island contract
Nuon is going to build an island composed of solar collectors in Almere that is going to supply some of the hot water requirements of the Noorderplassen-West district.
On Friday 29 February the municipality of Almere and Ludo van Halderen signed the contract to build the Almere Sun Island.
With a collector area of around 7000 m2 the Sun Island will be the fourth largest in the world and unique in the Netherlands. Water will be heated by the sun’s rays in the solar collectors on the Sun Island; the water will be pumped directly into the district’s heating network that will supply heating and hot tap water to the 2700 homes.
The Sun Island will provide 10% of the district’s annual heating needs. This equates to the energy used by taking a million showers. The remaining 90% will also be supplied by Nuon, using environmentally friendly residual heat from the nearby power plant in Almere Stad.
This large-scale use of renewable energy is unique not only in size but also in design. The solar installation will complement the landscape and the urban structure, constituting a striking gateway to Noorderplassen-West.
