Henrietta Mansell
Director
Henriette is a passionate consultant who realizes sustainable change in traditional environments. With experience in the energy sector and a keen sense of organization and creativity, she brings structure to complex transitions. Her social commitment is evidenced by work in Rwanda and Nepal.
Marjolein ten Haaft
Manager
Marjolein is passionate about the heat and energy transition; she specializes in defining and implementing strategies and plans to address the challenges faced by heat companies, energy suppliers, and grid operators.
Gijs Briët
Director
Gijs is an enthusiastic, cheerful, and goal-oriented consultant who helps organizations make impactful change. Gijs has extensive experience as a consultant and project leader in the energy and water sector, focusing on (digital) transformation, organizational, and process change.
Share this article
On November 7, 2025, the Masters of Transition event occurred again, this time focusing on heat transition.
Experts from across the heat market gathered at our office in Amsterdam. The morning was filled with a presentation on the Danish heat market by nlmtd, a presentation from WarmtelinQ on starting a heat project and building the organization to manage and operate a heat transport network, and breakout sessions on 3 cases contributed by EBN, the Municipality of Leiden, and Eindhoven Energie.
Affordability
EBN formulated a case around the theme of affordability. Through several propositions, discussions were held on transparency and profit at heat companies, affordability of sustainable heat, and the role of the government and municipalities. Transparency was identified as a crucial factor in building trust. Energy companies should improve their cost & benefit structures and communicate clearly, such as through dashboards or resident letters, and transparency as a branding strategy. Affordability remains a vital pillar; citizens do not want to pay more than they do for gas. These, such as municipal guarantees, solidarity funds, and collective connection strategies, can help reduce costs. The role of municipalities is changing from determining to facilitating, with local participation through citizen councils and ambassadors essential for support. Straightforward communication and phased implementation, as wellgasd jointdecision-makingtat therneighborhoodllevel,d are keys to trust in government direction.
Dealing with uncertainty
The Leiden municipality spoke of making progress amid great uncertainty. Municipalities suffer from changing legislation that has not yet crystallized and from uncertainty about government funding, which contributes to delayed decision-making and vulnerable participation. This uncertainty makes it challenging to enter into financial agreements with partner organizations and to provide residents with a cost estimate. In addition, residents are difficult to involve due to other issues that they have. Solutions can be found in more creative forms of communication, transparent business cases, pre-financing , and collaborations with housing corporations and market parties to speed up processes and increase trust.
Guts & Just-do-it
Eindhoven Energie is already working on several heat projects, even though the company is still in its start-up phase. The question posed by Eindhoven Energie is how to stay on track with its goals while much remains unorganized or uncertain, which can cause delays, partly due to missing legislation. At the same time, there is energy and pride in having “Guts,” the “just-do-it” mentality, and the opportunity to really start the heat transition. Opportunities lie in making success criteria explicit, leveraging innovation power in Eindhoven, and making concrete proposals to remove uncertainties rather than asking open-ended questions about how to solve them.
Want to know how we can help your organization start or grow in the new heat market? Please get in touch with Marjolein, Gijs, or Henriette; we are happy to think along with you.
