TAQA operates in the Alkmaar region as a producer of natural gas and co-owner and operator of two gas storage facilities. We also produce oil and gas from blocks P15 and P18 in the Dutch North Sea.
Globally, TAQA Group can be found in 11 countries and is active in the fields of energy and water.
The two underground gas storage facilities in Alkmaar are called Peak Gas Installation and Gas Storage Bergermeer.
Both storage facilities fulfil a strategic and different role in the security of energy supply, at a time when the Netherlands is going to import more and more gas to continue to meet the demand of households, businesses and industry in the coming decades. Gas storage facilities will then be needed to store the imported gas.
In addition, the Dutch energy system increasingly relies on renewable sources such as solar and wind energy. However, these sources are not always available. Gas is a good energy source to provide ‘back-up’ energy (when used in gas-fired power plants). However, this gas must then be always available as a backup source until needed. Storage is well suited for that. The role a storage plays in this way will increase further in the future.
Peak Gas Installation Alkmaar
The Peak Gas Installation in Alkmaar (PGI) has been supplying additional gas quickly to the national gas grid since 1997 in the event of sharply increased gas demand, for example during periods of frost. TAQA has a licence to use up to a maximum of 0.5 billion m³ of the gas from the storage facility to supplement peak demand. This capacity ensures we can supply about 10% of all households with gas for a week. The PGI stores low-calorific gas: the gas used by households for heating and cooking.
PGI uses the Alkmaar gas reservoir, which is located about 2,200 metres underground. TAQA has a 36% stake in PGI, along with Dutch state energy company EBN (40%), Dana Petroleum Netherlands BV (12%) and RockRose Energy (12%).
Gas Storage Bergermeer
Gas Storage Bergermeer (GSB) has a storage capacity of 4.3 billion m³. This is equivalent to the average annual gas demand of 4.5 million Dutch households. GSB is the largest freely accessible gas storage in Western Europe. This means it can be used by multiple parties. High-calorific gas is stored: gas used by industry and the electricity sector.
Alongside TAQA, EBN B.V. participates with a 40 per cent stake in Gas Storage Bergermeer on behalf of the Dutch government.
Want to know how a gas storage facility works? Watch the animation about Gas Storage Bergermeer below (in Dutch only).
Gas production
Around Alkmaar, TAQA has been extracting gas from gas fields in Bergen aan Zee, Groet and Schermer since 1972. This concession is called the ‘Bergen II extraction licence’. This gas is transported to our gas treatment facility on Oude Helderseweg in Alkmaar, where it is prepared for delivery to the national gas network.
Gas extraction from the Bergen II fields has entered its final phase: TAQA is planning to stop production in 2024. Until then, we expect to produce around 250 million Nm³ (this includes the gas already extracted in 2020 and 2021). This is 1.7% of the total gas extraction from the Bergen II fields since extraction began.
TAQA also extracts gas and to a lesser extent oil in the North Sea and co-owns a number of other North Sea gas extraction sites operated by other mining companies.