The Council of State has definitively upheld the nature permit for the biomass plant on Hefbrugweg in Almere. The plant is intended to supply heat to Vattenfall’s district heating network using two wood-fired boilers, whose emissions, along with traffic emissions, require a permit because they may affect protected nature areas.

The province of Flevoland granted the original permit in 2021 using nitrogen capacity reserved for housing projects, but that decision was later found to be incorrect. A new permit was issued in March after a broader assessment. Mobilisation for the Environment (MOB) challenged the nitrogen calculations and the assessment of sulphur dioxide’s acidifying effects, but the Council of State concluded that MOB had not sufficiently shown the calculations were wrong and that the effects had been adequately examined. The highest calculated acidifying deposition was in the Naardermeer nature reserve, at 0.019 moles per hectare per year, and the new permit remains in force.