A recent article on Smart Grid News highlights the world’s first real-life Smart Grid demonstration project in the district of Hoogkerk in the northern Netherlands: PowerMatching City. To date, PowerMatching City—a live Smart Grid project involving 25 households in the Hoogkerk—has demonstrated that it is possible to create a Smart Grid with a corresponding market model, using existing technologies. The system enables consumers to freely exchange electricity and keeps the comfort level up to par. Being the first real-life Smart Grid community in the world and having delivered the world’s first results from a total-concept Smart Grid deployment project, PowerMatching City is playing an important role in the development of Smart Grids and the transition towards a sustainable energy system. PowerMatching City was launched in 2007 as one of the Integral project demonstrations (EU FP6-038576), and is coordinated by DNV KEMA, along with its partners ECN, HUMIQ, and Essent.

The live Smart Grid project was also chosen to be included in the prestigious Sustainia100 list of top global sustainable solutions—derived from 56 countries and spread over six continents.