Marjolein ten Haaft
Manager
Marjolein is passionate about the heat and energy transition and specializes in defining and implementing strategies and execution plans for the challenges faced by heat companies, energy suppliers, and grid operators.
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How do you build a fully fledged heat company from scratch? This is the question facing many municipalities and provinces now that the new Heat Act requires heat networks to be at least 51 percent publicly owned. Eindhoven chose not to wait and established Eindhoven Energie last year. nlmtd supported the creation of the new organization. We spoke with Ronald Zwart of Eindhoven Energie about the partnership.
The energy transition is well underway. Major steps are being taken, but there are also significant obstacles to overcome. This is especially true for the rollout of heat networks. Financial uncertainty for heat companies, unfavorable laws and regulations, and high connection costs for consumers are among the reasons why many planned projects have been cancelled or stalled.
The new Heat Act, officially known as the Collective Heat Act (Wcw), is intended to help smooth the transition to collective heat systems. One of its key provisions is that heat networks must ultimately be at least 51 percent publicly owned, in order to safeguard affordability, reliability, and accessibility.
The Wcw will come into force in 2027. In Eindhoven, however, the establishment of a municipal heat company was already a reality well before the law was passed in late 2025. “There are so many developments here that the municipality decided not to wait for the legislation,” says Ronald Zwart, Manager of Processes and Projects at the new heat company, Eindhoven Energie.
“First of all, there is an ambitious climate ordinance stating that Eindhoven aims to be carbon neutral by 2050,” he explains. “In addition, the city is set to grow substantially. Out of a total of 120,000 homes, another 40,000 will be added over the next 20 to 25 years. A natural gas free heat supply must be provided for all of these homes as well. So there is plenty of work ahead.”
From zero to heat grid
Before these homes can be connected to a heat network, another major task lies ahead: building Eindhoven Energie itself. “There is quite a lot involved in setting up a heat company,” Ronald explains.
“Especially for a municipality that usually has no experience with this. You don’t automatically know which steps to take or where to start.”
In the case of Eindhoven Energie, one important factor was that five heat projects were ready to begin as soon as the company was founded. In part because of this, the organization wanted to work with a single standardized approach. To make that happen, Eindhoven Energie turned to nlmtd.
“Especially when we soon have around forty of these projects running, standardization is essential to keep things feasible and cost effective,” Ronald says. “That’s why we asked nlmtd to help us set up the end to end process.”
Development, realization, operation
nlmtd mapped out all the key steps Eindhoven Energie needs to take, from development and realization through to the eventual operation of the heat networks.
“We started by gathering information through interviews and the documentation that was already available,” says Marjolein ten Haaft, Manager at nlmtd. “We also looked at the requirements of the new Wcw, the Municipal Instruments Heat Transition Act, and the relationship with the municipality, among other aspects. Drawing in part on our extensive experience in the heat sector, we then created an initial outline of the end to end process chain.”
Continuous coordination with Eindhoven Energie was crucial. “In three working sessions, they tested what had been developed with our entire team each time and adjusted it where necessary,” Ronald explains. “This kept us, as the client, actively involved throughout the process and meant we knew exactly what we would end up with.”
“That is characteristic of the nlmtd approach,” Marjolein adds. “We truly developed it together as one team, so that in the end there is a broadly supported result that closely matches how the heat company wants to operate.”
Handbook
One of the final deliverables took the form of a digital handbook that formalizes the processes for development, realization, and operation. The first part is structured around eight key decision moments.
“These are the typical go or no go moments,” Ronald explains. “For each decision moment, it is very clearly described what information we need in order to make that decision and who is responsible for making it. Based on your role, you can easily filter which deliverables in which phase fall under your responsibility.”
“Early in the process, the emphasis is on the technical design,” he continues. “‘Is that technical design sufficiently developed?’ Gradually, a more complete financial picture is added: ‘What will it cost if we do it this way or that?’ The major investment decision comes when you move from development to realization. That is when you really start ordering materials and moving into construction.”
You cannot work everything out in detail upfront; you continue to learn as you go. The handbook provides practical guidance to support us throughout that process.
The second part of the handbook describes the type of organization needed to carry out all the steps involved. It outlines when specific expertise is required, how work arrangements are structured, and what the meeting framework looks like.
Finally, nlmtd prepared a roadmap showing, month by month, what Eindhoven Energie needs to take on and how the handbook can be used throughout the process. “Together, the handbook and the roadmap help us build the organization,” Ronald says.
Building your own expertise
Eindhoven Energie is currently working hard on this. In the second half of this year, the first shovel is expected to go into the ground for the first two heat projects: one for new developments and one for existing buildings.
“In the run up to that, we are setting up the organizational aspects described in the handbook and implementing the process steps and decision moments as we go,” Ronald explains.
Part of this work also involves refining the handbook internally. Not because anything is missing, but to make it even more personal. “That is essential,” Marjolein emphasizes. “You need to test it in practice and adapt it to your own way of working and your own terminology. That is how the knowledge truly becomes internalized.”
Building your own knowledge is therefore crucial, something that can be challenging for local governments. “For us as well, it was sometimes difficult to bring in enough substantive expertise,” Ronald admits, despite his twenty years of experience in the energy sector. “In those moments, it is extremely valuable to work with an agency that has in depth sector knowledge, such as nlmtd. At the same time, as an organization you need to be able to interpret and apply such a handbook yourself.”
Pioneering
Municipalities and provinces that are considering setting up their own heat company should therefore make sure to bring in permanent staff with sufficient experience. “And even then, it is still pioneering work,” he notes. “You can’t figure everything out in advance; you keep learning as you go. The handbook gives us practical guidance in that respect.”
“Eindhoven Energie really is a national frontrunner,” Marjolein adds. “That makes it extra challenging. You also see other municipalities looking to Eindhoven: ‘How are they doing it there? What can we learn from them?’ And that is a very positive development. The same challenges are being faced across the country, so it is extremely important to learn from one another.”
