In the Nether­lands, a lot is happening in terms of moving from conven­tional to modern, sustain­able tech­nology that is more effi­cient in the long term and protects the envi­ron­ment. According to the govern­ment, gas is no longer going to be used for domestic heating and hot water by 2050. Energy supplier Fortes has long since recog­nized the way things are going and relies entirely on district heating. The company has over 20 years of expe­ri­ence in this field. “We are market leaders in the Nether­lands and are very tech­nology focused,” says Dirk Ockhuizen, General Manager at Fortes. “In the district heating industry, we are the cham­pions league when it comes to quality and exper­tise.”

The market is growing

Since 2013, Fortes has been using fully elec­tronic heat inter­face units (HIUs) with an elec­tronic controller from ebm-papst to distribute district heating. The room ther­mo­stat in the consumer’s house is connected to this unit and reports when heat is required. The inter­face then elec­tron­i­cally opens the lines so that the exact amount of heat or hot water required can be obtained from the mains. This saves energy, because waste heat, for example from data centers, can also be used via the district heating network. This tech­nology has been in high demand for years.

In the district heating industry, we are the cham­pions league when it comes to quality and exper­tise.

Dirk Ockhuizen, General Manager at Fortes

“We are seeing growth in the market in the Nether­lands,” says Paul Kuipers, Product Manager of Heating Tech­nolo­gies at ebm-papst. He says that, around ten years ago, 5,000 of the units were sold per year, and now it is around 30,000. Energy suppliers like Fortes rely on district heating and regu­la­tion using units such as the HIU 900 from ebm-papst.

High-quality part­ner­ship

In fall last year, the third gener­a­tion of devices came onto the market, which impress with more connec­tivity, among other things. Oper­ating infor­ma­tion can be accessed from a cloud. “This allows us to see how the unit is behaving,” says Paul Kuipers. In the future, the data will also be used for remote diag­nos­tics.

Fortes finds the collab­o­ra­tion with ebm-papst very produc­tive. “As a market leader, our strategy is gener­ally to ensure that our suppliers and part­ners have a similar posi­tion, and head­quar­ters in Europe,” says Ockhuizen.“ We value expe­ri­ence in the heating sector. This also gives our customers secu­rity.”