Alkmaar's Sun Powered Circuit
Alkmaar is a historic city of canals, medieval streets and a celebrated cheese market, with thousands of heritage buildings shaping its identity. By 2050, it aims to be free of natural gas, showing how a centuries-old city can become energy-positive through smart grids, circular renovation and citizen participation.
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As part of the EU project POCITYF, Alkmaar is one of the two Lighthouse cities working towards the making of an energy-neutral municipality.
Following the flow of energy through Alkmaar
Across homes, sports facilities, public buildings and electric buses, Alkmaar stores, reuses and shares renewable energy through a connected urban energy system
Join us on a scrollytelling journey through Alkmaar, where everyday places become part of a citywide circuit of clean energy
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Different location sites in Alkmaar
Expertise centrum
InVesta
InVesta is an expertise centre for start-ups developing fermentation and gasification technologies
Its circular building reuses doors, frames, stairs and wall panels, while HR+++ glass and underfloor heating improve energy efficiency. On the roof, 150 solar panels and 24 PVT panels work with a heat pump and thermal storage. The result is an energy-positive building that produces more energy than it uses.
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Electricity generated per year | 41.139 kWh |
Electricity generated (in 35 years) | 1,44 GWh |
CO2 emissions avoided (in 35years) | 466,55 t |
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Old materials, new energy. Investa transforms reused building elements into an energy-positive building with lasting impact.
Sportcomplex
De Meent
De Meent is a large sports complex with ice rinks, sports halls, fitness facilities and offices
Around 2,500 solar panels, heat pumps, batteries and underground thermal storage are connected through a smart grid. Waste heat from making ice warms the building, while surplus energy can be stored, shared with nearby buildings or used to charge electric buses. Once a major energy consumer, De Meent now supplies clean power to the wider city.
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Electricity generated per year | 337.442 kWh |
Electricity generated (in 35 years) | 11,81 GWh |
CO2 emissions avoided (in 35years) | 3.826,59 t |
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A building once defined by energy demand is now a source of clean power, shared heat and a cleaner future for the city.
Apartment building
Highrise
Noordertogt is a high-rise apartment building with residential units and shared facilities
A rooftop structure and solar façade bring together 785 panels, generating around 250,000 kWh per year - enough to match the building’s annual electricity use. Basement batteries balance demand and feed-in peaks, while a circular PVB roofing layer improves insulation and can be recycled repeatedly. Noordertogt shows how high-rise housing can combine energy autonomy with circular construction.
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Electricity generated per year | 248.000 kWh |
Electricity generated (in 35 years) | 8,68 GWh |
CO2 emissions avoided (in 35years) | 2.812,32 t |
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One of Europe’s pioneering energy-self-sufficient apartment buildings, Noordertogt generates as much electricity as it consumes.
Residential neighbourhood
Bloemwijk
Bloemwijk is a social housing neighbourhood in Alkmaar comprising 174 homes
52 of these homes have been newly built with circular insulation, underground thermal storage, triple glazing, solar panels, an air-source heat pump and a battery, partly using recycled materials. Residents were closely involved in the development of the homes, with the opportunity to help shape and decide on the energy solutions used.
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Electricity generated per year | 310.000 kWh |
Electricity generated (in 35 years) | 10,85 GWh |
CO2 emissions avoided (in 35years) | 3.515,40 t |
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Bloemwijk shows how social housing can combine circular design, clean energy and active community participation.
Apartment complex
Dillenburg
Dillenburgstraat is a residential apartment complex in Alkmaar connected to the city’s district heating network
The apartments have been fully disconnected from gas and connected to HVC’s district heating network, which supplies both space heating and hot water. New heating units and radiators improve efficiency, while each apartment is connected to four solar panels that generate clean electricity. Residents also switched to induction cooking, completing the transition to a gas-free, lower-carbon housing system.
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Electricity generated per year | 54.091 kWh |
Electricity generated (in 35 years) | 1,89 GWh |
CO2 emissions avoided (in 35years) | 613,38 t |
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No gas, lower emissions, and a heating system ready for renewable energy at scale.
Power generating noise screen
Noise Barrier
The Energy-Generating Noise Barrier is a 2.5-kilometre roadside screen fitted with 4,300 solar panels
The panels are mounted on a frame facing the road, while part of the barrier combines a green screen with additional solar panels above it. Alongside reducing traffic noise, the structure generates electricity equal to the annual consumption of around 440 households. Revenue from the energy helps recover part of the construction costs. As part of a pilot project, the barrier also provides valuable experience for developing similar barriers elsewhere.
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Electricity generated per year | 82.935 kWh |
Electricity generated (in 35 years) | 2,90 GWh |
CO2 emissions avoided (in 35years) | 938,00 t |
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Residents asked for protection from traffic noise - and their request became a pioneering source of clean energy for the city.
Charging Tower
Laadtaarn
The Charging Lantern is a street lamp with two integrated charging points for electric cars and boats
Shaped as a lantern, developed with TotalEnergies, it brings clean mobility infrastructure into the existing streetscape without adding bulky charging units. By combining lighting and charging in one elegant structure, it saves space, supports the growing demand for electric transport and blends naturally into the historic city centre.
Modern energy built into the city without taking away its character.
Educational initiative
Minecraft for Education
In Minecraft, Alkmaar’s youngest minds turn bold ideas into the neighbourhoods of tomorrow
In spring 2024, more than 70 pupils from Alkmaar took part in Schools Reinventing Alkmaar, an educational project that invited youngsters to design a sustainable residential neighbourhood using Minecraft Education. The pupils were asked to create a green and liveable district capable of producing its own energy and food. They explored renewable energy, circular materials, urban agriculture and public green spaces, transforming sustainability challenges into practical and imaginative designs.
The competition demonstrated that young people are not only capable of imagining the cities of tomorrow, but also of contributing practical and creative ideas to their development. As Mayor Anja Schouten observed, their enthusiasm and imagination show that the future of Alkmaar is in good hands. After all, the transition to a more sustainable city is not only being built for younger generations - it will increasingly be shaped by them.
A city powered by ideas
Minecraft begins with an empty landscape and a simple idea: if you can imagine a world, you can start building it.
In Alkmaar, young people used this idea to design neighbourhoods that produce their own energy, proving that a greener city is not an abstract dream but something that can be planned, shaped and made real.
If children can envision such a future, then creating it is within our reach, and delivering it is something we owe to the generations who will inherit it.
Across Alkmaar’s Sun Powered Circuit, as part of POCITYF, that imagination is already becoming reality. Each intervention is different, but together they demonstrate that sustainability does not require a city to erase its past.
Alkmaar can preserve its historic identity while adapting to a greener, more resilient future.
The city of tomorrow begins with the courage to picture it. Alkmaar shows what can happen when those ideas are taken seriously, block by block, panel by panel, and generation by generation.
Want to join Alkmaar for a greener future?
Visit POCITYF website and learn how to became a smart city!