HVC Groep, a sustainable energy and waste company in The Netherlands, has signed a 15-year €50 million loan agreement with the European Investment Bank. The EIB-financing is supported under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) of the Investment Plan for Europe. HVC will use the loan for its investment plans in the period 2020-2024, which will cover both the expansion of its existing district heating networks in Alkmaar and Dordrecht, and investments in geothermal sources for the heating of greenhouses in the Westland area.

About one fifth of the project cost will go towards the extension of the existing HVC district heating networks in the Alkmaar and Dordrecht regions, which the EIB supported in the early 2000’s. Here, HVC will replace individual natural gas-fired heating boilers in residential and commercial buildings with existing centralised and more sustainable heat generation (biomass and partially renewable waste), as well as increasing the number of connections. The above-mentioned activities are part of a broader heating programme, decided by HVC’s shareholders in May 2020. This programme includes new district heating networks in HVC’s operational area as well as the effort to make heat sources more sustainable.

In the “Westland” region, known for its greenhouse horticulture industry, HVC will replace natural-gas fired heating for horticulture greenhouses with low-carbon geothermal energy, by installing several geothermal heat sources. The switch away from natural gas heat generation will have both cost and environmental benefits.

This is the fifth EIB loan to HVC, which the EIB has supported since 1994. It has through the years financed important steps in HVC’s transition to a sustainable energy and district heating company.