Environment

Dutch passenger trains to run on 100% wind energy

Passenger trains in the Netherlands will run only on wind power from January 2017 onwards
Eneco
Passenger trains in the Netherlands will run only on wind power from January 2017 onwards
Eneco

The 600,000 Dutch that travel daily by train will now do so thanks purely to wind energy, with the national rail operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) announcing that 100 percent of its passenger trains will be powered by the renewable source from January onwards.

The move is claimed as a world first, and is the product of a 2015 agreement between NS and Dutch electricity company Eneco. Initially, the pair had targeted January 2018 as the time when each of NS' trains would run entirely on wind power, but it looks like things are moving well ahead of schedule.

"NS uses the same amount of energy as the city of Amsterdam," NS spokesman Ton Boon tells New Atlas. "And the electricity is supplied from newly built wind farms. With this we lead by example: this contract will boost the production of green energy, we hope that other companies will follow this in their coming contracts."

NS, along with other train operators, does still run a small fleet of diesel trains, Boon explains, though these will be phased out by the end of 2017.

Source: NS

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5 comments
myale
So how much excess capacity have they had to build - to ensure that if it is not windy then they either have another station which has wind or they have storage to cover?
EcoLogical
myale, I'd rephrase that question to "How much fossil fuel extraction, diesel refining & storage and toxic emissions have they eliminated".
Yukonite
Hey Honey - it's really blowing out tonight. I'll be home in a jiffy!
Aross
With all the hot air being generated by the US presidential farce I wonder if there is enough wind in DC to run their transit system.
Bob809
Incredible how the Dutch have achieved this, when in the UK they can't even get the trains to run on time, if at all. Capacity appears not to be much of a problem for the Dutch, yet here, if you can get on a train it's likely standing room only. Ten there is the ill thought out HS2 project. It's like they are going backwards, continuing to use the same old fashioned railway system. They need to take a look at China and Japan, even some of Europe.