Aquathermal Energy Atlas Friesland

A new tool for Friesland's heat transition

EXTRAQT introduces the Aquathermal Energy Atlas Friesland, an interactive mapping tool that shows in detail how much sustainable heat can be extracted from Friesland's surface water through aquathermal energy. The tool was developed on behalf of Provinsje Fryslân, as part of the Wetterwaarmte programme, and is now available at aquathermie-atlas.extraqt.be/friesland.

Earlier studies already indicated that a large part of Friesland could potentially be heated using aquathermal energy, but they lacked sufficient detail: no dynamic calculations were made, and no local match was established between water bodies and heat consumers. EXTRAQT therefore developed a new, dynamic potential study that does take this local match between supply and demand into account.

Key results

The simulations reveal a striking picture: the total source potential in Friesland amounts to around 222% of the province's total heat demand. However, many heat consumers are located in densely populated areas where source potential is relatively limited, while significant amounts of heat remain unused in other areas.

By locally linking supply and demand through an allocation model, factoring in elements such as distance to water, heat demand density, energy poverty index, and physical obstacles, the study shows that around 30% of Friesland's heat demand can realistically be met through aquathermal energy. This makes aquathermal energy a solid pillar of Friesland's heat transition, even without additional underground thermal storage (ATES).

What can you do with the tool?

The atlas consists of three main sections:

• Sources – shows the source potential per water body (and, at a more detailed level, per calculation cell), including average cooling, the percentage of heat delivered versus available, and a time graph of temperature decline.
• Consumers – shows heat demand, heat received, and heat demand density per neighbourhood or municipality, based on data from the Frisian Heat Atlas.
• Boundary conditions – visualises the factors underlying the allocation model, such as obstacles, distance to water, and energy poverty.

Users can zoom in to neighbourhood level to assess, location by location, whether aquathermal energy is a viable option for a future project.

Part of the Wetterwaarmte programme

The tool supports Provinsje Fryslân's ambition to become the leading aquathermal energy region in Europe, with the goal of connecting 60,000 homes and 10,000 utility buildings to heat networks powered by aquathermal energy by 2030. More background on this initiative can be found via Wetterwaarmte.frl.

Curious about the possibilities for your project or municipality? Explore the results yourself via the Aquathermal Energy Atlas Friesland.

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