Hydropower beneath synthetic turf

The consortium combines the knowledge and expertise of Van Kessel Sport en Cultuurtechniek with that of AH Vrij Groen, Grond en Infra, PLANN ingenieurs, Domo Sports Nederland (DSN) and The Green Village from Delft. “It’s a great combination of established names and innovation that will bring fresh ideas regarding climate adaptation,” Sanne Loeve of Van Kessel Sport en Cultuurtechniek said at the introduction of this consortium in November last year. Almost all participating companies have been working in the sports surfaces sector for several years. “We first identified the innovations applicable to synthetic turf pitches and short listed several options for layer in the construction. These have been combined into innovative systems to contribute as much as possible to the sustainability goals: climate adaptation, energy and circularity. We assessed each of the systems against the criteria of ‘feasibility’, ‘scalability’ and ‘affordability’ to select the most promising combination of innovations.”

All consortia have been given the opportunity by the municipalities to develop their innovations as prototypes and thus measure the sustainability benefits in practice. They all share the hope that the measured results will act as a catalyst for the innovation and convince other municipalities to invest in future-proof artificial turf pitches as well. 

Urban Green Flow

The focus of the GOO4IT consortium is developing its Urban Green Flow system. “In synthetic turf of the Urban Green Flow system is placed in a tray on top of another tray which holds water. In times of heat stress, a smart pump will pump water into the upper tank. A building material with capillary capabilities will funnel the moisture up to the shock pad which will be topped by the specially developed synthetic turf carpet. Here, the moisture evaporates, thus cooling the synthetic turf sports surface as well as the surrounding area.” According to Loeve, the principle can be applied to any type of synthetic turf carpet. “The concept will first be trialled on a 15-by-15-metre rugby pitch.” The consortium is also considering enhancing the system with geothermal or aquathermal energy. “However, those more complicated ideas require additional development, something we can do at a later stage. For the time being, our focus will be on establishing our pilot setup. Based on the knowledge gained, we can decide what else we can do.”