The Netherlands generated almost 300 petajoules of renewable energy this year, 15 percent more than last year. This is evident from figures from Wednesday Energieopwek.nl. The sustainable energy saved 22 megatons of CO2.
“It is quite a lot,” says Martien Visser, Professor of Energy Transition at Hanze University of Applied Sciences and developer of Energieopwek.nl. “In the beginning, growth is easy, but around the 15 percent sustainable energy level where we are now, it becomes more difficult to maintain.”
Solar energy in particular grew rapidly: this year, solar panels generated 40 percent more energy than last year. That was partly because it was particularly sunny. The various forms of biomass, such as blended fuels in cars, have become somewhat less important due to the growth of sun and wind.
Energy prices hardly play a role
According to Visser, subsidies are an important reason why so much renewable energy has been added this year. The high electricity and gas prices hardly play a role, he says. “People might prefer a solar panel on the roof, but those were already popular. And erecting windmills is a very slow process. Energy prices have not yet resulted in a single extra wind turbine.”
Visser is optimistic about the coming years and expects that the target of 16 percent renewable energy in 2023 will be achieved. “It is not very difficult to predict, because many projects have already received a subsidy, but have yet to be realized.”
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