34-borehole BEO field heats and cools Wintercircus fossil-free, sharing energy with De Krook.
Wintercircus uses geothermal energy through a BEO field (Borehole Energy Storage), which comes down to a system of deep boreholes drilled into the subsoil. Beneath the concert hall, a BEO field has been installed with 34 boreholes reaching a maximum depth of 149 metres. The system uses the constant temperature of the ground, around 8 to 10°C, to heat the building in winter and to cool it in summer. Through a closed circuit of pipes and a heat pump, warmth or coolness is extracted from the soil, allowing the building to function without the use of fossil fuels. Moreover, this BEO field is connected to the one of De Krook, so that both buildings can exchange heat and cooling with each other. Any residual heat from Wintercircus, for example after events, can in this way be used to heat the neighbouring building.
Sustainability added value: The BEO field replaces gas-fired heating and conventional cooling with a fully renewable, low-carbon energy source, drastically reducing CO₂ emissions and energy demand from the grid. By coupling the system with De Krook, residual heat that would otherwise be wasted is reused at building scale, turning two separate consumers into a small, efficient local energy network. This shared approach maximises the return on the geothermal infrastructure and demonstrates how heritage buildings can be operated on renewable energy.