Energy Accord

On 8 October 2007, Minister Van der Hoeven of Economic Affairs and Minister Cramer of Spatial Planning and the Environment signed an energy accord with the Energy Valley provinces: Drenthe, Friesland, Groningen and North Holland. The energy accord provides guidance for policy planning, attaches specific objectives to it and provides a framework for long-term initiatives. This is crucial to collaborating with the corporate sector to further the sustainable energy economy.

Efforts have concentrated on getting energy projects off the ground which link up with the strengths of the Energy Valley region. These projects cover areas such as:

• Energy conservation in urbanised areas, greenhouse cultivation sites and the industrial sector
• Sustainable energy: biomass, wind and solar energy, etc.
• Biofuels and sustainable mobility
• Clean fossil energy by achieving CO2 storage capabilities
• Promotion of energy research and innovation.

In 2011, efforts in these areas should achieve 40 to 50-Petajoules of sustainable energy production (i.e. enough energy to power half a million households) and 4.5 Megatons in CO2 emission reductions (i.e. 15 per cent of the national target, or roughly the emission of 1.5 million passenger vehicles).

In this way, the Energy Valley region is making a key contribution towards the 2010 national climate and energy targets. Furthermore, economic development of the Northern Netherlands is being stimulated by expansion and reinforcement of innovative energy activities. This links up directly with the objectives of the national Energy Innovation Agenda. The opportunities in this national programme for the Energy Valley region are summarised in the Energy Valley Innovation Region report, prepared by the northern provinces and submitted to the national government.
organisations. The ‘Energy Valley Works!’ brochure covers a selection of these energy projects in the Energy Valley.