Holland’s first off-grid distribution centre rises at Schiphol Trade Park

The building, now known as location AMS05, will occupy approximately 55,000 square meters of storage space, with a further 6,500 square meters of mezzanine. In addition, there will be approximately 5,300 square meters of office space and 64 loading docks for trucks and vans. The first piles went into the ground at the end of June. Delivery is scheduled for early April next year. The building must meet the highest sustainability requirements with a BREEAM certificate in the ‘outstanding’ class.

Off-grid system because of grid congestion

Due to the sharply increased energy demand, the electricity grid in the Netherlands has, as it were, silted up in recent years. Because of this so-called grid congestion, the grid operator cannot supply power to a new distribution center, so Intospace and Joulz have designed an off-grid system. Thanks to the designed system that Joulz will build, Intospace is able to realize the project in the short term.

The solution is made possible by combining existing technology with an innovative energy management system that precisely matches production and consumption. Solar panels provide their own sustainable power supply and battery storage ensures energy security. The annual production of the building with about 22,000 solar panels will be approximately 7.6 megawatt hours.

‘Concept car’ for energy supply of logistic real estate

“We take full responsibility for the power supply,” says Joulz director Jan Verheij. “This makes us the point of contact for the design, realization, maintenance, financing and operation of the complete off-grid energy system.” In terms of security of supply, the system will be more reliable than an energy system that does consume grid power. Batteries can be used to store energy and help to balance local demand and local supply. A smart energy management system optimizes consumption and enables collaboration in a local virtual energy network. In periods of little sunshine, the electricity production is supplemented by gas generators.

“With the solar panels on the distribution center, we are making a positive contribution to the energy transition,” said Tim Beckmann, CEO of Intospace, the country’s largest logistics real estate developer. “With the off-grid solution of this project, we learn what the energy system of the future will look like and we give substance to Intospace’s sustainability strategy. In the future, we will have to deal with the energy supply of logistics real estate in a very different and much smarter way, we see project AMS05 as a kind of ‘concept car’ of this new direction.”