The end of the year is approaching, the weather is getting colder and the Christmas markets will soon be open for business. Winter activities are slowly making a comeback and if there is one thing that some have been waiting for, it is to be able to put on skates and glide over an ice rink to the tune of Christmas carols.
This year, the cost of energy has deterred many municipalities from installing an ice rink during their traditional end-of-year market. In view of their energy-intensive nature, installing such infrastructure does not seem appropriate for local authorities.
In the Walloon city of Dinant, however, an ice rink has already been installed since mid-October, for a period of three months. At a time when energy bills are exploding, this decision may come as a surprise, but the ice rink is actually powered by 800m² of solar panels and would be almost autonomous in electricity, according to Olivier Pitance, the director of Dinant Évasion.
"The company has been fully equipped with solar panels for five years," Pitance told RTBF. "Since then, every year, we insulate a building. We are therefore in photovoltaic overproduction. All this surplus is used for the rink. Theoretically, we should not be far from zero energy consumption."
Before the opening of the ice rink, 54% of the energy produced by the panels still needed to be consumed. "For all those who have photovoltaic panels, we know that for it to be profitable and efficient, we must consume what we produce," he added.
Ice rink or no ice rink?
Some municipalities, however, have indeed announced that ice rinks will not be installed on their territory this year but alternatives have also been found. In Mons and Namur, ice skates will give way to rollerblades.
In Charleroi, the ice rink will be part of the winter entertainment but the city authorities wanted to rethink its use to save money and limit the ecological impact. "It is the provider who fully manages the rink, which means zero expenses for the city,” said Babette Jandrain, the councillor in charge of the festivities.
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"However, we forced the provider to consider an ecological aspect for the entire Christmas village. That's how the provider designed an ice rink with a system that recovers energy. The heat produced by the refrigeration unit is recovered to heat the room containing the skates so that it no longer uses electric heating. As this system responded to our ecological and economic concerns, we decided to maintain this rink."
As for Brussels, the city has announced that its ice rink will be present during the Winter Pleasures market on Place Catherine.
