The Netherlands wants to be gas-free in 2050 in order to reduce CO2 emissions. Currently heating causes a lot of CO2 emissions, especially when provided by gas boilers. The heating of most households and industrial buildings in the Netherlands is, however, still provided by gas boilers. District heating networks aim to produce heat in a more sustainable way to lower carbon emissions. However, in small district heating networks heat comes from Combined Heat and Power plants (CHP), using gas to generate heat and electricity. As it is the goal to become gas-free by 2050, this is no longer a sustainable option, as the electricity mix in The Netherlands is changing to more renewable energy, the energy created by the heat network is less renewable compared to other solutions.

Ennatuurlijk and YES!Delft organise the Sustainable Heat Challenge to accelerate the transformation from gas-fuelled heat-producing systems to carbon-free solutions.

If you are a company working on sustainable hardware solutions for district heating networks, this challenge is for you. Join the Ennatuurlijk Sustainable Heat Challenge and contribute to a more sustainable heating system in The Netherlands.

Ennatuurlijk is a heating company that wants to accelerate the reduction of gas-fuelled solutions and reduce carbon emissions in the Netherlands. Ennatuurlijk implements modern solutions that transform the heat grid into a sustainable system and fit the needs of future generations. Tech incubator YES!Delft partnered up with Ennatuurlijk to collaborate with companies that are developing future-proof and sustainable heating solutions.

Carbon emissions can be reduced by more sustainable solutions for heat production. Ennatuurlijk is looking for ideas and solutions that increase the sustainability of district heating networks. The solutions must:

• Be more carbon-neutral or cheaper than the existing solutions.
• Be a hardware solution. Software or AI solutions will not be considered.
• Provide easy integration in the current infrastructure and in existing technical rooms.
• Be reliable and provide sufficient availability during the year.

The sustainable hardware solution must be innovative, scalable, and be competitive with current CHP (combined heat and power) or gas boiler solutions. The solution can be a prototype or MVP, but needs to be ready for roll-out.

In this challenge, you will be contributing to more sustainable and carbon-neutral heating that fits the future sustainability goals of The Netherlands. We are looking for European startups, scale-ups or other companies that have a sustainable hardware solution for heating generation and want to pilot their solution in a local neighbourhood withEnnatuurlijk and partners.

We appreciate ambitious and motivated teams that are really committed to making this project successful. The company must consist of a minimum of two co-founders and have a focus on the Netherlands. A consortium can also apply for this challenge if collaboration is beneficial. Don’t forget that the quality of your pitch will play a big part in the evaluation. The ability to communicate your idea or solution is therefore very important.

The teams pitching the most sustainable, scalable, or competitive hardware idea will win his challenge. There are two types of awards.

The big promise award: for radical technologies that need more development before they are commercially viable. The team winning this award will further develop their idea together with Ennatuurlijk.

The ready for tomorrow award: for technologies that are ready for deployment in the field. Teams winning this award will do a pilot project with Ennatuurlijk. If successful, the solution might be implemented and scaled to more locations.