Our mission: unleashing the potential of geothermal energy as one of the cleanest and most sustainable energy sources.

Our 2025 ambitions

250 Megawatt thermal

(MWth) or 10 Petajoule per year (PJ/y) sustainable constant energy source produced from always available natural earth warmth, equivalent to 300.000 households using 250M m3 of natural gas reduced

350.000 ton C02

emission reduction per year

10+

Geothermal energy plants in development

We have linked our ambitions to the United Nations sustainable development goals.
The icons represent three of the seventeen global goals.

Our story

When Pieter shared his stories about developing geothermal projects in Chili and Turkey it inspired longtime friends Jorg and Vincent. This amazing source of renewable energy as well as the adventure of launching this as a business. Slightly jealous of Pieter’s adventures abroad, they raised a key question:

“If geothermal energy is abundantly available, hardly noticeable in skylines and landscapes, and very much renewable… Why don’t we generate more geothermal energy in the Netherlands?!”

Being a geologist by education, Vincent knew that heat is stored in the earth everywhere. If you drill deep enough, at least in theory, geothermal energy production should be possible in the Netherlands as well.

Combining the hands on experience in geothermal exploration and project development, a “get things done“- mentality and professional financial background, they put their skills in practice and started to develop their first ultra deep geothermal project in the Netherlands for a large industrial client.

read more

In 2017 Pieter, Jorg and Vincent embarked on a journey to make a change and started a business with both huge economic as well as impact potential.

Ever since 2010, SmurfitKappa has tried to develop geothermal energy as heat source for their factory in Renkum. In 2016 QNQ used their lack of progress as a test case. Working together with this giant paper producer led to signing the Dutch Green Deal in 2017 as a joint venture, receiving 50% co-funding from the federal government to explore the subsurface. In the process, QNQ had created an acceleration model to finance early stage exploration of geothermal energy projects; the big obstacle blocking many prospective geothermal projects.

Currently, QNQ has over EUR 5m of development capital committed to two projects for which first stage financing is secured. More development projects are investment ready. Less than EUR 0.5m would complete first stage financing of EUR 2m per project.

We’ve gone from believing to knowing: geothermal energy production in the Netherlands is possible and our pipeline is ready to heat up.

Geothermal energy is unlimited, clean & natural

Biomass and geothermal are the only available energy sources able to provide a constant baseload energy supply for industrial use and district heating (and thus scaling and acceleration). Geothermal energy, however, is the cleaner form, produced locally in versatile forms, has significantly less spatial impact and the lowest total investment per petajoule per year.

Geothermal energy is superior

Generated from unlimited, constant and natural heat of the earth

legenda

  • form
  • heat / electricity
  •  
  •  
  • availability
  • a.k.a. base load
  •  
  •  
  • 2030 Target
  • PJ per year in NL
  •  
  •  
  • emission & fuel costs
  •  
  •  
  • production
  •  
  •  
  • surface
  • per PJ/year
  •  
  •  
  • CAPEX
  • ± per PJ/year

biomass

  • heat + electricity
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • constant
  • subject to availability
  •  
  •  
  • 130
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • low
  •  
  •  
  • national
  •  
  •  
  • < 0.5 km2
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • 120M€

geothermal

  • heat + electricity
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • constant
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • 50
  • 140 in 2050
  •  
  •  
  • lowest
  •  
  •  
  • local
  •  
  •  
  • < 0.5 km2
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • 80M€

wind

  • electricity
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • irregular 
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • 238
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • lower than fossil fuels
  •  
  •  
  • local
  •  
  •  
  • 20 km2
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • 100M€

solar

  • electricity
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • irregular
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • 29
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • lower than fossil fuels
  •  
  •  
  • local
  •  
  •  
  • 1.5 km2
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • 200M€

Geothermal energy is heating up

A fast growing industry, with significant ecological and economical impact ready for large-scale CAPEX investments.

Governments push for massive geothermal expansion

Dutch national and regional governments are stimulating expansion by early stage exploration subsidies, drilling assurance programs, provision of production subsidies and allowing for risk capital participations by Dutch state owned company Energie Beheer Nederland (EBN).

Geothermal energy to expand beyond greenhouse heating

Dutch national and regional governments are stimulating expansion by early stage exploration subsidies, drilling assurance programs, provision of production subsidies and allowing for risk capital participations by Dutch state owned company Energie Beheer Nederland (EBN).

By 2050, geothermal energy could provide for up to 50% of industrial heat demand (60 PJ), and 80 PJ of district heat and agriculture heat. This is 5% of total Dutch energy demand, exclusive of potential electricity production through geothermal power plants.

Ready for development investments

Current developers are (semi-)public entities with limited balance sheets so private capital is needed. To achieve 2030 targets ±2 billion euros in funding is required.

Large scale geothermal projects are already in operation in similar subsurfaces (ie. Germany, France, Belgium) which prove the business case and support ambitions.

Case study: Project Renkum

Sustainable heat supply for Smurfit Kappa Parenco and the region

Project Renkum is situated in one of the most promising regions for the development of ultra deep geothermal in the Netherlands (source: TNO). The project is broadly supported through the involvement of local municipalities, and potential heat offtakers, amongst others.

Project Renkum has already qualified for the Green Deal ‘Ultra Diepe Geothermie’ (UDG) – a program hosted by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate and EBN – and now intends to qualify for the next phase: development of a pilot well. The exploration and drilling risks in this phase will be (partly) supported by the Dutch Government through a specifically designed guarantee scheme.

QNQ provides the operational project management and manages the business case through Smurfit Kappa’s and QNQ’ joint project SPV, Tellus Renkum B.V..

Benefits

Project Renkum is expected to contribute up to 73.000 tons of CO2 reduction per year for Smurfit Kappa Parenco, a large packing paper producer in the Province of Gelderland, in the municipality of Renkum.

In addition, another 16.000 tons of CO2 reduction per year can be achieved through supplying the geothermal heat in a regional domestic heating network (~15.000 home equivalents)

To accelerate the realisation of the domestic heating network a study is currently being undertaken by Tellus Renkum to the feasibility of capturing, using and amplifying the waste heat from Smurfit Kappa Parenco’ on-site sewage water treatment plant and feeding that heat into the domestic heating network (see above animation – in Dutch).

More about Project Renkum

Geothermal energy is scalable, impact ready, and now also investment ready.

QNQ for geothermal impact

We are Netherlands’ first Geothermal Accelerator and are laying the groundwork for a border-crossing sustainable infrastructure for unlimited, clean & natural energy sourced from our earth’s geothermal activity.

As an independent party in a network of partners we bring a unique perspective unencumbered by third party dependencies. Directly co-investing in the projects we work on, increases ownership and accountability towards our management practices and in turn ensures successful performance in terms of impact and business for ourselves and our partners.

Our one-stop-shop advantage comes from a team with seasoned experience in the three key areas of technical infrastructure, projectmanagement and capital finance.

A team, driven to release the potential of geothermal energy:

QNQ Partners

Jorg van Gent

Jorg van Gent

“What intrigues me in the energy transition is that it brings together the entrepreneurship and innovation of start-ups, and combines this with massive investments in projects which are fundamental to our every day lives: heat and power.”

Vincent Helfferich

Vincent Helfferich

“During my time studying geology I witnessed the effects of global warming on the environment of the people of Qaanaaq. This made such a profound impression that it has since been my inspiration for developing and realizing new energy systems. Combining this with my financial knowledge and project management experience, it drives me in our efforts to unleashing the potential of geothermal energy.”

Pieter Vis

Pieter Vis

“I am passionate about contributing to the transition of a more sustainable energy system and to realizing a positive impact for people and planet.”

Get in touch to learn more and join our mission

Are you looking for geothermal energy solutions in your area? Would you like to know more about our acceleration model? Or just learn more about geothermal energy in general?

Let’s start talking!

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QNQ is registered in the Dutch Chamber of Commerce at number 67753930.

Our contact email address is info at qnqpartners dot com.