PHOTOVOLTAIC AMERSFOORT

(The Netherlands)
Photovoltaic energy is not really a very new technology. Although its principle is known for many years
now, quite a lot of obstacles hinder its full market penetration. One of the possible remedies (besides
new developments making the technology cheaper) can be either large-scale fabrication of solar
panels or innovative policies on urban level, trying to make this technology achievable for many more
people than before. The City of Amersfoort and the Dutch energy supplier REMU used the opportunity
of the building of a completely new quarter to experiment with photovoltaic energy. They did not only
concentrate on technical aspects, but also on availability of the technique.

GENERAL ASPECTS
Amersfoort is a municipality situated in the central
part of the Netherlands, about 50 km from
Amsterdam and 20 km from Utrecht, having
excellent railway connections.
Amersfoort has about 122,000 inhabitants, but
expects further population growth. This makes it
necessary to change the citys energy policy if the
goal of reducing CO2-emissions is to be obtained.

Groningen

NETHERLANDS
Amsterdam
Den Haag

Amersfoort

Utrecht
Rotterdam

Einhoven

Climatic data:
Hours of sun per year : 1477 h/a
Annual Mean Temperature: 10 C

Maastricht

CONTEXT
The City of Amersfoort decided that in its new quarter Nieuwland which comprises about
5,000 homes and about 70 ha for industrial purposes the buildings should serve to
experiment both new environmental techniques and owner structures for them in order to
achieve a high grade of sustainable living.
In order to achieve these goals, the local authority has appointed an environmental
supervisor being charged to assess all subsidiary plans on the basis of the environmental
objectives, to inform and encourage the parties involved.
For this purpose, the so-called DCBA method has been used. For each environmental
aspect, a base line situation (D) and an optimum situation (A) were defined. They provide a
standard against which each design can be checked. It has been agreed with planners and
builders that the target level must at least be C, i.e. on all fronts at least one step better than
normal. In the case of the solar energy project, it has been convened to go even further: level
B and in some situations even A.
The planning for this new development started in 1995 and should be finished by 1999.
Nieuwland comprises of four different quarters that have been build in different phases of the
development, each of them having its own characteristics.

EXPERIENCE OF A MERSFOORT
The City of Amersfoort, REMU (N.V. Regionale
Energiemaatschappij
Utrecht the
Utrecht
Electricity Corporation), the builders and
developers implied seek to demonstrate that the
use of solar energy can result in architecturally
sound design. They also wish to gain experience in
the use of solar energy in various situations: in
rented housing, owner-occupied housing and nonresidential buildings. A special importance is
therefore laid on aspects of financing and owner
structures in this case study. Five different projects
using solar energy have been undertaken by
REMU in co-operation with many other partners:
Three low-energy primary schools
As REMU is aware of the fact that schools are a place where next generations are educated
and that they are a meeting point for the residents of a district, it also paid attention to the
three primary schools to be built in Nieuwland. In two of them, provisions were made to
integrate solar panels, the first one already being finished in 1995, thus too late to integrate
solar panels into its roof.
In 1995, SRO, a local building company and REMU signed an agreement covering the
installation of solar panels. SRO granted REMU a right of superficies as they installed the
solar panels and receive the electricity generated. In exchange, REMU paid part of the extra
cost resulting from other energy-saving measures applied in the schools. Subsidies were
granted by NOVEM and the EU.
One of these schools was fitted with 192 solar panels and completed in 1996, the other one
having a roof with 124 so-called AC modules and completed in 1997. These modules have
a small inverter on the back, which means that each panel provides alternating current to the
grid. Both installations together can generate about 8,000 kWh annually. To visualise energy
consumption and production, the schools have displays showing current and cumulative data
and comparisons with target figures. They are hung up in central points in the schools, visible
for anyone to actively illustrate the performance of the installations.
MW photovoltaics project
After a first exploration of possibilities, it was decided to aim for an installed capacity of 1
MW. Based on an average of twenty square meters of solar panels per house and a peak
capacity of 100 W per m 2, a specification has been made in 1994 to build about 500 houses.
The urban development was structured to allow (optimum) installation of solar panels on as
many houses as possible. It was also specified that all designers and developers involved
should co-operate in the implementation of the solar project. It comprises altogether eight
sectors on which nine developers are working. Construction of the first sector started in 1997
and should be finished before 2000. REMU applied two different methods when selling these
houses. One half of the solar panels will remain the property of REMU with similar conditions
for using the roof space, except that the house-owners are remunerated by REMU for the
use of their roofs. For twenty percent of the electricity generated on their roof, they will
receive a sum equal to the normal domestic consumer tariff. The other half of the
installations is to be sold to the residents. The current generated will be fed into the REMU

grid with the residents receiving the normal domestic user tariff for the whole electricity
produced.
Solar energy on fifty rented dwellings
Within one project of the Woningcorporatie N.V. SCW, the Amersfoort housing corporation
has completed a project comprising 114 rented houses with 50 of them using combined solar
power. Thereby, REMU gains experience concerning its implementation and management in
social housing. The construction was started in 1994 and completed in June 1996.
5.6 m2 of solar collectors are on the roof of each house, situated next to the ridge.
Immediately below them are the solar cells 22.5 m 2 per house. A row of windows below the
solar cells provides direct solar
radiation into the houses and forms a
separation between the energy roof
and the tile roof lower down. There
have
been
many
tests
on
impermeability to water, wind load,
thermal shock and durability. The
current gained from the solar cells
about 82,500 kWh per year altogether
is supplied to the mains while the hot
water is used in the houses
themselves. A solar/ gas combination
unit with a capacity of 15 kW each has
been installed in each house.
The housing corporation made the roofs available for the use of solar power. Between REMU
and SCW, an agreement on management and ownership has been made. The solar-power
roof is the property of REMU, including supplementary provisions regarding access to the
roof and the installations. The solar collectors and the solar/ gas combination units are the
property of Gasrent Stegas B.V. and are rented by SCW.
Nineteen owner occupied homes with solar power
On 19 luxury owner-occupied houses in one of Nieuwlands districts, REMU has installed
solar roofs. Preparations started in 1995 with the last houses being completed in 1998.
REMU wanted to investigate the possibilities of furthering solar energy in the private property
sector. The houses are private property while the solar panels belong to REMU. The
relationship between both parties has been set out in agreements with the building company
and the individual occupant. For them, the solar panels act as a waterproof roof covering.
They pay nothing for construction and maintenance of this structure. In return, the owner
must prevent the panels from being overshadowed and may not make any changes to the
roof. In case the owner wants to replace the solar panels, there are special agreements.
REMU can access the roofs in the events of faults occurring and is responsible for any
leakage.
The partners also wanted to investigate whether it was possible to prefabricate the entire roof
structure in a workshop - tested on one of the houses first. But this revealed two predominant
objections: First, the fragility of the different parts during transport and secondly, the
elements did not fit together accurately enough for the aluminium sections to match correctly.
The necessary additional work during assembly cancelled thus out the logistical advantage
of prefabrication. For the other eighteen houses, only the timber roof was prefabricated, after
which the profile sections and the solar panels were installed on site.

Two semi-detached balanced energy houses

A unit consisting of two semidetached houses has been built in
Amersfoort whose annual energy
consumption is fully covered by solar
energy. It was constructed in 1997/8,
one half being used for dwelling
purposes, the other serving as an
Information Centre for Sustainable
Energy open for the public. Besides
many other features aimed at
reducing
the
houses
energy
consumption, the solar roof plays an
important role in the design of the
house. Many different systems have
been incorporated: solar collectors,
normal solar panels, double-glazed
transparent panels, single-glazed
transparent panels, ordinary double glazing and sunblinds. Despite this combination with
various thicknesses, an even roof surface has been achieved. The whole panel surface is
about 90 m 2, providing on average approximately 7,500 kWh of electricity per house
annually, while the 14 m2 of solar collectors provide three water tanks for different (storage)
needs: domestic hot water, heating and a ground water layer at a depth of 12 m for long term
storage. An electric heat pump satisfies the rest of the heating requirement. The heat pump
as well as a supplementary tap-water heater in the kitchen are fed by the solar panels.

EVALUATION AND PERSPECTIVES

In mid-1999, four of the projects have already been completed. The 1 MW project is still
being implemented and should be completed in 1999. Approximately 1,150 homes in
Nieuwland will then have been equipped with solar collectors. About 570 homes will have
twenty or more m 2 of solar panels and nearly 400 homes will have one to five solar panels.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

REMU
Electricity Supply Company
Mr. Pasma
PO BOX 3053
NL - 3760 DB SOEST
Tel: +31 35 60 944 11
Fax: +31 35 60 944 22
E-mail: *@Remu.nl
http://www.Remu.nl

Informatiecentrum voor Duursame Energie

Ms. Wieta Schfer
Nieuwlandseweg 42
NL 3824 AMERSFORT
Tel : +31 33 46 25 843

This case study was prepared by Energie-Cits in co-operation with the electricity supply company
REMU and the City of Amersfoort. It received funding from the ALTENER Programme of DGXVII of
the European Commission

1 MW decentralized and building

integrated PV system in a new
housing area of Amersfoort

Nieuwland, Amersfoorts new housing area.

In detail, the projects furthermore aims at:
demonstration of the technological and
architectural potential of BIPV,
reduced BIPV costs in terms of both module
costs (economy of scale) and BOS-costs
(through optimised integration),
enhanced system performance through
optimised design and improved quality
control and commissioning procedures,
establishment of an infrastructure for future
co-operation between building companies,
utilities, town planners and PV industry,
essential for maturing BIPV technology,
a contribution to the confidence of local
authorities as well as project developers,
architects and building industry of quality
aspects of PV.
The 1 MW project has successfully

General information
Location: Amersfoort, the Netherlands
Sunshine hours (yearly average): 1 477
hours per year, 4,05 hours per day
Type of project: Mostly residential
buildings, some public facilities (a sports
centre, a school and a kindergarten)
Type of application: BIPV
Time for design process: Different for
different housing sections
Time for construction: Different for different
housing sections, from 1997 to 1999
Realization: 1999
Description
Aim of the project is the full-s

demonstrated the feasibility of the

implementation of large scale, building
integrated PV systems on a district level.
We learned important lessons on a
technical and organisational level to
enhance the system performance of BIPV:

cale demonstration of a 1 MW PV system in

an urbanised area through the realisation of
500 PV houses grouped together in

Let performance guarantees be part of the

contractual agreement with the pv
subcontractor (rather than the price per
kWp, the price is directly related to kWh);
A modular design concept (here one house
one inverter) features lower costs (large
amounts of standardised flexible units,
reduced cabling costs, low grid connection
costs and low costs of spare parts);
Type tests prove to be necessary due to
innovative pv techniques and new products
being applied (as PV becomes more
mainstream, and components are well
tested, such type tests can be omitted);

The design review is considered to be a

preparatory step for the building inspection
and commissioning (we believe this will
remain an important element of quality
control programmes of future PV projects).
In general, we feel that intermediate
inspections, during design and installation,
are and will remain a necessary part of any
building process, regardless a new

technology is being used, or not. Testing

before commissioning has proven to be
essential: various faults by the PV installers
were detected and corrected before
commissioning could proceed.
As far as organisational aspects are
concerned, PV being realised by the
property developer, seem to run more
smoothly than PV being organised by an
energy company. The latter is not used to
the conventional building process.
Communication is essential in all phase of
the design process.
Although REMU has put a considerable
amount of energy into informing the
occupants, it was apparently not enough to
prevent a lot of questions. PV is still not a
common phenomenon in the Netherlands.
There is still a lot of Public Relations to do.
The 1 MW project has increased the
acceptance of building integrated PV, not
only by the general public but also by
professional parties like city developers,
property developers, architects and building
companies. The project has also persuaded
property developers and architects to
promote PV as a building component that
can give a house an aesthetic surplus
value. Some of the architects have already
applied PV in other projects at their own
initiative.

System characteristics
PV system power: 1 323 kWp on 500
houses, monitoring data concern 44 houses
with 2,57 kW utility-interactive
Type of building integration: roof-integrated
Type of cell technology: multi-crystalline
Module dimensions: 95 watts (27),
manufacturer: Shell Solar

Inverter: central 2500 watts (one per

house), inverter manufacturer: Mastervolt

Unforeseen Issues: In the planning stage a

maximum of 5% loss due to shading and
non-optimal orientation was allowed, with a
tilt angle between 20 and 50 degrees. With

the design as built (with a tilt angle of 70

degrees) the loss is estimated to be 16%.
Project cost breakdown
Initial budget based on 1,0 MW: 8,6
million (because of the enthusiasm of the
architects who all wanted to participate it
has become 1,3 MW).
PV systems, turnkey delivery: 7 441 542
Monitoring system: 152 016
Grid interfacing equipment: 99 378
Building construction materials: 451 965
Installation: 306 302
Project management and engineering:
776 418
Total project costs: 9 227 621

In the present project the PV electricity cost

price is 1,15/kWh if all costs for project

management, design, monitoring evaluation

and dissemination are included.
Performance characteristics
The one house one inverter concept has
proven to be successful. The flexible
Sunmaster 2500 inverter has eventually
resulted in almost 400 well-functioning PV
systems. I must be noted that on average
the nominal inverter power is unnecessarily
large with respect to the PV power;
although no substantial negative effects on
the yield has been observed, system price

might have been still lower. The inverter

efficiency measured at 10 % load was 88%,
whereas it was designed to be 91%.
After a number of technical problems in the
pre-commissioning phases had been
resolved (see chapter 3), the performance
of the systems has proven to be in
accordance with expectations. The absolute
yield figures indicate, however, that the
houses with steep roofs perform
substantially less than the roofs with a
small tilt angle. From an energetic point of
view, such designs should have been
avoided, moreover since in the initial
requirements for design a maximum
deviation of 5 % the maximum attainable
yield was allowed (see Annex V). On the
other hand, the more vertical applications
increase the visibility of and the attention
for PV, which is experienced as positive by
professionals and public. In Nieuwland a
good trade-off has been made between the
direct technical revenues the kWhs - and
those from publicity. Monitoring of all
houses is still running and within the next

it will year generate valuable statistical

information on the performance of the
systems.
In general the project has been successful
in a sense that property developers and
architects have become convinced that PV
is a building component that can give a
house an aesthetic surplus value. Some of
them have already applied PV in other
projects at their own initiative. A large
interest for Nieuwland is shown by visitors
and the professional press, both national
and international.
Electricity generated: 1681 kWh from 1
January 2000 to 31 December 2000
System availability: 100 %
Incidents or Outages: 0
Project team

Utility REMU is initiator and contractor of

other parties. REMU, Ecofys and Novem
have regular meetings for overall project
management. REMU manages business with
PV-suppliers, architects and building
contractors. PV manufactures: Shell Solar,
BP Solar, BRAAS (roofing company that
uses Sh

ell Solar laminates), Colt