April 20, 2023 · Team HG
EM2 Venue in Groningen has the distinction of being the first venue in the Netherlands and Europe to be fully self-sufficient in its power generation and storage using solar panels. Alongside the Green Hell, Groningen now has a green pop temple as well!
On the roof of EM2 143 solar panels have been installed, combined with a battery pack. Together, this provides 50 kW of power storage! By acting as an experimental venue, the location is taking a significant step forward in making the events industry more sustainable. The combination with battery storage may not (yet) be attractive to many companies and households because peak consumption usually occurs during the day. Furthermore, feed-in conditions are often more favorable. However, for the events industry, the demand for electricity is usually highest in the evening. Also, in view of changing regulations such as feed-in (net metering), it is becoming more advantageous to store electricity.
EM2 is an unsubsidized venue and falls outside the sustainability subsidy schemes because it falls outside the large-scale consumption scheme. The entire project is therefore funded out of pocket, which amounts to a substantial investment. However, they see this as an opportunity to position themselves as a sustainable event venue and to appeal to a specific segment of companies that also wish to demonstrate green ambitions in their business operations.
The installation of solar panels aligns with the sustainable corporate vision of the event venue. EM2 It has now been in existence for five years and has been working on making both the grounds and the location more sustainable from the very beginning. For instance, they were the first venue in the Netherlands to replace their soft plastic cups with hard plastic cups. The EM2 ‘barn’ was also built sustainably based on the cradle-to-cradle principle.
