Innovative green renewable solar and wind solution shows first step in transition to clean energy

Amsterdam, March 7, 2023 – This week, the Municipality of Eindhoven officially approved The Social Hub to generate sustainable wind and solar energy on the roof of The Social Hub Eindhoven. The ‘PowerNEST’ installation covers 630m2 and consists of a combination of wind turbines with solar panels on top and is expected to provide 17% of the energy the building needs for the hotel, the student complex and the co-working space. The Social Hub and the municipality have worked closely together over the past 12 months to realize this innovative plan. In 2021, the first talks were held between The Social Hub, Ibis Power and the municipality of Eindhoven, and now the plan for the PowerNEST, a sustainable ‘energy factory’ by Ibis Power, has actually been finalized.
Promoting sustainable energy transition
As part of the transition to sustainable energy, The Social Hub is looking for opportunities to generate its own wind and solar energy by using the spaces on the roofs and facades of the hubs. Adding new innovations to existing buildings is an important part of The Social Hub’s sustainable strategy and brings them closer to their green energy goals. The 23 hubs, spread across Europe, are mainly located in urban areas where space is at a premium. That is why the company is looking for solutions to be less dependent on the overloaded electricity grids, but also to save costs and offer inspiring solutions for the energy transition.
Charlie MacGregor, CEO & founder of The Social Hub: “We are very happy with this agreement and thank alderman Rik Thijs (GroenLinks) for his support. This is an important step in our plan to generate as much sustainable energy as possible in all our existing buildings. We are therefore happy to work with municipalities and companies that can help realize this transition so that we are getting closer to our Net Zero goal. We feel the urgency to take concrete steps now and do the right thing for our planet.”
Sustainability transformation in urban environments

The switch from fossil to renewable energy sources is one way to combat global warming. The Paris climate agreement states that the share of renewable electricity in total electricity production must be 70% by 2030. Green electricity in urban environments is another way to achieve this goal.
Rik Thijs, alderman responsible for climate, energy, soil and greening says: “We hope that this collaboration and innovation application can be an example for other cities. As the city of Eindhoven, we want to be a testing ground for these kinds of sustainable initiatives. As alderman for climate and energy, I see that we need to accelerate. We are a smart ‘Brainport’ region (top technology region where technologies are developed that change lives), and we must use that available knowledge to combat climate change.”
Alexander Suma, CEO IBIS Power says: “As existing mid- and high-rise buildings are the biggest energy guzzlers in the city, we need to embrace new ways to put these buildings on the path to Net Zero. The way The Social Hub, the city of Eindhoven and our team have worked together is a successful example of how to achieve sustainable solutions on a large scale that have a positive impact on urban areas. The agreement of the Municipality of Eindhoven clears the way to help make more buildings more sustainable in the future. Construction of the PowerNEST modules for The Social Hub will begin this summer. After 5 weeks of construction, the preparations for the actual placement of the PowerNEST with the crane on the 630 m2 roof of The Social Hub Eindhoven can officially begin.
More positive environmental impact
The Social Hub strives to operate as responsibly and impactfully as possible and to minimize the negative impact on the environment. The Social Hub is currently setting science-based targets for their CO2 emissions and aims to achieve an 82% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions per square meter by 2032, compared to 2018 emissions. recently built hubs in Delft, Bologna and Barcelona all already have solar panels.

About IBIS Power

IBIS Power is a scale-up company that develops revolutionary, innovative solutions for renewable energy with a major sustainable impact on society. They are the inventors of PowerNEST: a groundbreaking solution that can deliver 6-10x more energy on the limited roof space of medium and high-rise buildings by extracting the highest possible efficiency from wind and solar energy. PowerNEST integrates with the architecture of the building and is called the crowning glory of the building by leading architects.

https://ibispower.eu/

About The Social Hub

The Social Hub, formerly known as The Student Hotel, was founded in 2012, is headquartered in Amsterdam and currently has over 800 employees.

All The Social Hub locations offer a mixed-use campus with accommodations, bars, restaurants, gyms, shops, meeting and event spaces and high-quality coworking space. With over 11,000 rooms open and under development across Europe, The Social Hub strives to provide a unique experience to its community of international guests and local residents.

In total, The Social Hub has 23 locations, with 16 hubs open in; Berlin, The Hague, Delft, Vienna, Groningen, Eindhoven, Maastricht, Rotterdam, Paris, Florence, Bologna, Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Toulouse and two in Amsterdam. Hotels will also open in Glasgow, Porto and San Sebastián in 2023. Seven more will be opened in 2025 in Porto, San Sebastián, Glasgow, Rome, Florence Belfiore, Lisbon and Turin, among others.