From overhead to opportunity: Making local energy into a competitive asset for business

A hotel needs comfortable rooms. An office needs a productive working environment. A school needs spaces where children can learn. Heating and cooling make those activities possible, but how that energy is sourced and managed also matters to running costs and long-term performance.

Helping businesses and organisations to manage their energy costs goes beyond supplying energy. It means designing systems around what customers need and making better use of the resources available nearby. The focus is on making lower-carbon energy work commercially as well as technically.

Turning clean energy into a competitive edge for business means making energy an asset rather than just a cost to manage.

Across the E.ON Group we are bringing this approach to developments that combine places to live, work and learn, starting with energy needs and the sources available nearby: energy stored underground, or outside air or surplus heat from neighbouring buildings. Connecting local resources with local demand is about making the move to more sustainable heating and cooling both achievable and affordable.

One development, one joined-up energy plan

5TRACKS is an innovation zone near the railway in the southern town of Breda with a partnership that extends from design and construction to long-term operation. A heating and cooling system with a 30-year commitment supplies 168 apartments, 15,500 square metres of offices, 1,700 square metres of commercial facilities and a 174-room hotel.

The gas-free system draws energy from the ground and outside air. Underground storage holds heat and cooling for later use, helping keep homes, workplaces and hotel rooms comfortable throughout the year while making better use of local resources.

Planning across the whole development connects different energy needs rather than treating each building in isolation, helping to reduce consumption and running costs over time.

Long-term partnership, not just installation

At Floating Gardens in Amsterdam, energy stored underground provides heating and cooling for 192 apartments, a primary school and childcare facilities. One local energy concept supports several different uses, showing how infrastructure can serve the needs of a whole development.

Each apartment has its own heat pump and draws on heat available locally which can reduce the energy needed for heating and help to lower running costs over time.

For developers and organisations planning long-term energy needs, this illustrates why the partnership matters as much as the equipment: performance depends on how a system is managed and maintained, not simply how it is installed.

Making surplus heat a local asset

In Tilburg, the Smariuskade development shows how a business can play a more active role in its local energy system: one that uses heat from a nearby business to warm new homes.

Servers at VodafoneZiggo’s technical site generate heat as they run and need cooling to keep operating effectively. Here, an energy system is being designed to put that surplus heat to use in surrounding homes. The system also uses cooling stored underground to help keep the servers at the right temperature.

Connecting the site’s cooling needs with homes’ heating needs turns surplus (or waste) heat into a useful local asset. Recovering energy already being produced can reduce the additional energy needed for heating and help support long-term affordability. It is a practical example of how businesses and communities can benefit from a more connected energy system.

Here in the UK, we’re bringing the same thinking to the Silvertown development in East London’s Royal Docks. Our ectogrid™ heating and cooling network is designed to share energy between buildings, using available heat and cooling before adding new energy. It also offers the potential to capture surplus heat from nearby sources, including data centres. Reducing the energy needed from outside the network can help lower running costs over time – putting local energy to work for businesses and the wider community.

Cleaner energy needs to make business sense

For business customers, the value of cleaner energy lies in what it can deliver for their operations. Making use of heat from the ground, outside air or neighbouring buildings can help bring down running costs over time. Heat pumps capture that energy and raise it to a useful temperature, reducing the energy needed to keep buildings comfortable. This can also reduce reliance on gas, supporting longer-term affordability and resilience.

Delivering that value takes more than choosing equipment. Design, construction, operation and maintenance all influence lifetime costs and performance. Our approach brings these stages together, drawing on E.ON’s wider expertise, investment and contracting models to help customers optimise energy costs and strengthen the resilience and flexibility of their supply.

Projects like these demonstrate the thinking behind our ReIndustrial Revolution campaign: turning energy from a cost to manage into an asset that can improve competitiveness. The campaign sets out how cleaner, smarter energy can help power the UK’s next industrial chapter, bringing economic growth, energy security and decarbonisation together. Independent modelling for the report estimates that, under the highest adoption scenario, proven energy technologies could deliver £2.1 billion in cumulative gas cost savings for UK manufacturing between 2027 and 2035.

By connecting local resources with proven technology and long-term expertise, we’re putting that thinking into practice – making new energy work for businesses and the communities around them.