Zenmo Simulations

Zenmo Simulations, short for Zero-emission Energy and Mobility simulations, builds virtual worlds of the energy and mobility system. Its agent-based models put real buildings, vehicles, people and grids on a real map, so that decision makers can see what their choices do. Zenmo was founded to shorten the long road from scientific research to policy.

Zenmo's models are in use where the energy transition gets concrete. It built a digital twin of the Brabant energy system for the Province of Noord-Brabant and grid operator Enexis, together with TU/e. It led Holon, a joint assignment from the Dutch government, including the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), which produced open-source tools for local energy hubs and, in 2026, a national study on local flexibility as an answer to grid congestion.

Zenmo and NEON grew up together. Zenmo's founder Auke Hoekstra was ready to trade his company for NEON because he expected NEON to accelerate the transition even more; he directed the programme, ran its project management and led its integral model, which Zenmo co-financed. NEON PhD candidates Peter Hogeveen, the programme's first graduate, and Naud Loomans became Zenmo model developers. In the HOLON project, three NEON PhD candidates and six NEON principal investigators set out to build a model of the Dutch energy system that NEON could reuse.

NEON was the first step for Zenmo to develop LUX-NL, its bottom-up simulation of the Dutch electricity system, which has its own page.

From the former NEON website

About Zenmo Simulations

Zenmo simulations stands for Zero-emission Energy & Mobility simulations. We want to make scientific knowledge about energy and mobility systems useful for any organisation that wants to reduce it’s carbon footprint. We believe that this knowledge stimulates sustainable development of our living environment.

The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy is one of the biggest adventures in human history. And we are in a hurry because climate change is threatening us and the whole ecosystem. The global awareness of climate change is growing, but it is hard for decision-makers to know which strategy to follow in these turbulent times. Therefore we bring the latest scientific knowledge to the places where decisions need to be made. We use the newest modeling methods (agent-based) and we use practical data to make our models realistic and spatially explicit.

At Zenmo we create virtual worlds that can be used to confront challenges in the energy and mobility transition. This gives decision makers the necessary confidence to make sustainable decisions. Ultimately leading to our goal: accelerating the clean energy and mobility transition

Role in NEON

Zenmo and NEON are very closely related. Just as NEON is a purpose driven movement, Zenmo is a purpose driven company. Both working on accelerating the energy transition by increasing and sharing knowledge of the energy and mobility transition. However they also have uniquely different functions in this process of acceleration. While NEON serves as a scientific body, focussed on increasing knowledge and skills. Zenmo is a consultancy company, bringing this knowledge to society, advising policy makers and companies on this urgent matter. Where NEON research takes up to years, Zenmo can quickly address policy makers’ questions and help them shape the transition.

As experts in agent-based energy and mobility models Zenmo plays a key role in helping the research towards integral transition models. Where at Zenmo we are experts in agent-based energy and mobility models. We play a key role in providing knowledge and skills in work package 10, which is focussed at such models. Furthermore we have a lot of experience and knowledge in electric mobility, renewable energy and a combined system perspective of those two, which will always be on disposal to the NEON researchers.

Lastly, Zenmo is contributing to the project by handling the project management by the means of program director and Zenmo founder Auke Hoekstra

Motivation for joining NEON

The entire idea when Zenmo was founded was to improve the connection between scientific research and policy making. It takes often ten years or more before state-of-the-art research reaches commercial reality. However, in resolving the climate crises we cannot afford to waste this time. By starting a consultancy company strongly rooted in research we have been able to accelerate this process. By means of our models we are able to translate the newest insights in smart energy and mobility system research towards intelligible, hands-on policy advice. To maintain and improve this position even further Zenmo has been at the core of founding and starting the NEON project.

As Zenmo is a consultancy company, our models and research is often focussed towards the clients demands. By participating in the NEON project Zenmo can strengthen the scientific basis of our models. Furthermore, the impressive consortium is of great value in improving the assumptions and context of our models. By bringing in experts from different domains, and gaining a broader understanding of socio-technical transitions, Zenmo becomes even better equipped to give advice on these truly complex, but highly important, transitions.

Text from the former NEON website (original page).