According to Climate Action, the railway system in The Netherlands will be 100% by renewable energy by 2018. Wind power already covers over half of the network’s energy needs and Eneco, a Dutch energy company, aims to source the remaining capacity from the Netherlands and neighbouring countries by 2018.
The railway covers about 2,890 km and the network is used by approximately 1.2 million passengers per day. As part of the agreement, Eneco will provide 1.4 TWh of wind power – about the amount of energy consumed by all households in Amsterdam. About half of the total required capacity is expected to come from Scandinavia and other neighbouring regions, with the rest produced in the Netherlands.
Eneco has used specially built wind farms for the project to avoid putting existing applications under added pressure and to keep costs down. The railway operators are also making energy efficiency savings by developing innovative train designs and driving techniques to keep demand for energy as low as possible.
How it is that this is possible in the Netherlands, but not here? Maybe it’s all that nostalgia for steam trains …