Breaking the deadlock in the energy transition: a Data Safe House underpins sustainability plans with data
Challenge
Results
With more than 100 new industry locations, the platform has now proven its value. As a result, in 2025 it was officially recognized by grid operators, the Ministry of Climate and Green Growth, and cluster organizations as the one-stop shop for exchanging information on sustainability plans.
Client
Data Safe House is an independent foundation that supports the sustainability of Dutch industry through secure data exchange and dialogue.
In brief
Data Safe House helps industry partners and grid operators share confidential sustainability plans securely and reliably. Following a successful pilot in the Port of Rotterdam, Data Safe House became the national contact point for secure data exchange and dialogue across all six industrial clusters in the Netherlands. Together with its partners, nlmtd supported both the pilot and the national scale-up, from strategy and stakeholder management to the development of the IT platform and an established way of working. More than 100 industrial sites are now connected, and Data Safe House is officially recognized as the standard for sharing sustainability data within the Dutch energy sector.
Challenge
Mutual dependence
Industry plays a crucial role in the energy transition. To realize their sustainability plans, industrial companies are largely dependent on grid operators, which must expand and reinforce an already overloaded energy infrastructure. Grid operators, in turn, depend on industrial companies, as their sustainability plans contain information that is essential for the rapid and efficient reinforcement of the energy grid. It is therefore vital that grid operators gain early insight into the industry’s energy sustainability plans.
Breaking the vicious circle
When industry is unwilling to share this confidential information, a vicious circle emerges. Industrial parties struggle to make investment decisions because they lack certainty about whether future energy infrastructure will be sufficient to support their plans. This uncertainty only deepens as grid operators have insufficient insight into industry’s sustainability ambitions. To break this deadlock, Data Safe House was established as an environment in which parties can share their investment plans safely, reliably, and anonymously.
Scaling up and uniformity
In 2021 and 2022, Data Safe House demonstrated its added value through a successful pilot in the Rotterdam Moerdijk cluster. The next challenge was scaling up to the other five industrial clusters. How could uniformity be maintained while still allowing flexibility where needed? Following the pilot, nlmtd was asked to support the national rollout. Among other things, we helped recruit a new team, establish nationwide agreements and processes, ensure the scalability and user friendliness of the IT platform, align stakeholders and interests, and secure funding.
Process
Data Safe House evolved from a regional pilot into a national collaboration. This required further development of the platform and the agreement framework, connecting stakeholders, organizing secure data exchange, and scaling up across all industrial clusters in the Netherlands.
Deepdive in the process
From pilot to national contact point
Data Safe House began as a pilot in the Port of Rotterdam, initiated by the Port Authority. From nlmtd, we were involved in the design and setup of the pilot. Its success led to the decision to roll out Data Safe House nationwide across all six industrial clusters.
Developing and implementing the project plan
The rollout started with a small project team comprising nlmtd and other external partners. Together, they drafted a project plan and submitted the accompanying subsidy application to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate. After the subsidy was awarded, Data Safe House and an expanded team, including several nlmtd colleagues, began implementing the plan. Our support from nlmtd included setting up the data exchange process and agreement framework, further developing the Data Safe House IT platform, and managing communications. As a next step, we collaborated on the foundation’s new funding model and long term strategy.
One platform, many interests
This last aspect proved particularly complex. A wide range of stakeholders is involved, including grid operators, industrial companies, cluster organizations, the Ministry of Climate and Green Growth, provinces, municipalities, and RFO. For Data Safe House to succeed, it is essential that all these parties feel adequately represented. Their interests often diverge: grid operators and other applicants seek as much information as possible from industry, while industry remains cautious about sharing sensitive data.
Industry on board
That hesitation from industry is understandable. The sector is under pressure: while grid operators plan fifteen years ahead, industry needs solutions now. To bring industrial companies on board regardless, Data Safe House removes as many barriers as possible. We offer a platform where companies provide their data once and can share it from there with data requesters. As legislation increases, industrial companies are receiving the same information requests from multiple parties. By making data sharing as accessible as possible, Data Safe House reduces the administrative burden on industry.
Uniformity versus customization
Finding the right balance between uniformity and customization is an ongoing challenge. On the one hand, Data Safe House aims to work with a single agreement system and uniform methodologies, IT platform and data formats. On the other hand, smaller industrial companies often require a different approach. To make participation easier for them, we request less data. This differentiated approach helped turn initial sceptics into ambassadors.
Dialogue
Facilitating continuous dialogue among the many stakeholders is crucial at every stage of the rollout. These parties come from very different worlds. By maintaining an open and ongoing dialogue, we built understanding of one another’s perspectives and interests. This is how we were able to bring these different worlds together.
Results
Sharing investment plans safely
The result is Data Safe House, an independent environment in which industrial parties can securely and anonymously share their sustainability plans with grid operators and other interested parties. Participants retain ownership of their data and decide what they share, with whom, and for what purpose it may be used.
Accelerating together
This setup makes industry more willing to share information. Grid operators and other parties, such as RFO and industry clusters, gain better insight into future energy demand through targeted data requests and can make more informed decisions. In turn, industry benefits from faster expansion of the energy infrastructure.
One official window for data exchange
In 2025, Data Safe House will be recognized within DIVIT, a collaboration between grid operators, the Ministry of Climate and Green Growth, and cluster organizations, as the official window through which industry data is provided for grid operators’ investment plans. This makes DSH the single national source of data on which plans and policies across the energy sector are based, ensuring uniformity and high data quality. At the same time, industry is not overburdened, as data only needs to be shared and updated once a year.
Cooperation through Dialogue (DIVIT)
DIVIT stands for Dialogue on Infrastructure for Industry in Transition. Dialogue is central, because information only becomes truly valuable when it is discussed. Data Safe House is therefore more than a platform; it is a partnership that actively stimulates and facilitates dialogue. In principle, each industrial cluster has a Data Board in which all parties discuss what data can be shared and how it should be interpreted.
We work with a small team on a big challenge. That is precisely part of our strength. Unlike a large organization, we can stay focused on a single goal. We do not get distracted and keep moving forward. I feel an enormous amount of energy and motivation from everyone to make this a success.
Next steps
The rollout of Data Safe House is ongoing, and we remain closely involved from within nlmtd. In addition to supporting the implementation, we also contribute to the annual plans and the development of the overall strategy.
The ambitions are high. Around 100 parties are currently connected to the platform, a number that is set to grow to 600 within the next two years and to 5,000 by 2030. Achieving this level of acceleration requires focused attention, and at nlmtd we are actively helping to make it happen.
Conclusion
The energy transition is much more than a technical challenge. It requires focused collaboration and the alignment of many diverse interests, which is especially complex in a sector as varied as industry. Data Safe House provides a way to safeguard these different interests while working together toward a shared goal: creating a future‑proof energy infrastructure.
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