In collaboration with the local authority CE Delft has developed an energy vision for the Dutch island of Texel. In doing so CE Delft elaborated the various elements of the programme on paper, with the island council taking responsibility for the implementation plan, naturally working closely together and with input from numerous residents and organisations on the island. The result is a vision that enjoys widespread support and one provided with numerous handles for concrete action over the next few years. The plans were approved by the island council in August 2008.
Texel has always been special and so, too, are its ambitions to have a fully sustainable energy supply in 2020. This document first delineates these ambitions as precisely as possible, going on to examine the options available for the various forms of energy use and for stepwise realisation of the goals. The emphasis is on what is feasible, not on what is not. In the process of developing the vision, use was made of transformation charts and other pictorial aids giving insight into what steps need to be taken at what point in time and where.
On Texel there is plenty of scope for making a success of these efforts. In the past there have already been numerous (pilot) projects in the field of energy conservation and renewable energy, but there is nonetheless a wide chasm between the situation today and ambitions for 2020. We now enter a phase of achieving ‘focus’ on the one hand and ‘volume’ on the other. This will include setting up an organisation to implement the programme. Much depends on the support that is forthcoming from Texel’s population and business community. In technical terms it is feasible; if the will is there, so too will be the way.