Royal FloraHolland takes a major step towards gas-free heating in Aalsmeer

In February, construction began on the foundations of the Flora Energy Plant on the Royal FloraHolland site in Aalsmeer. This marks an important step towards a completely natural gas-free and future-proof heat supply. The Flora Energy Plant will house the largest air/water heat pump in the Netherlands. This heat pump will soon provide sustainable heating for one-third of the Aalsmeer hub. That’s an area of approximately 300,000 m2, equivalent to around 35 football fields.

Largest air/water heat pump in the Netherlands

‘The Flora Energy Plant is one of our most innovative energy projects,’ says Coen Meijeraan, Real Estate & Facility Management Manager. ‘The largest air/water heat pump in the Netherlands will soon be generating sustainable heat here, drastically reducing our gas consumption. This is an important milestone in our ambition to make energy use more sustainable and reduce CO₂ emissions.’

New cold storage unit as a heat source

Alongside construction of the Flora Energy Plant, other initiatives are also underway. We are currently building a new cold storage unit within the existing buildings. This cold storage unit is essential for order picking, our new and efficient way of distributing products. We make optimal use of the heat released during the cooling process by reusing the heat from the cooling motors in the heating system. This also contributes significantly to reducing our gas consumption. Together, the heat pump and heat recovery on the cold storage unit will save of 3 million m³ of gas per year. This is equivalent to the consumption of nearly 3,000 households

More sustainable projects

Sustainability at Hub Aalsmeer does not stop there. We are working on several projects that contribute to a more sustainable future. Examples include utilising residual heat from other sources, switching entirely to LED lighting in all buildings, and installing additional solar panels wherever possible. We are applying this approach not only in Aalsmeer, but also at our hubs in Rijnsburg and Naaldwijk.

Sustainability as a long-term strategy

With the Flora Energy Plant and our other initiatives, we are firmly committed to sustainable innovation. We are working towards climate-friendly, energy-efficient and future-proof hubs. Step by step, we are bringing our hubs closer to fully CO₂-neutral business operations by 2050. We are doing this in the interests of our customers, colleagues, the entire floriculture sector and, of course, the environment.