The municipality of Midden-Drenthe sees opportunities for restarting the construction of solar parks in the municipality. Due to limited capacity on the power grid, generation plans have been at a standstill recently.
Now that the grid operators are expanding capacity, the municipality is daring to look ahead again. No lack of interest. The municipality received many requests from project developers for solar parks, totaling more than 1,000 hectares.
“Based on current ambitions, however, we need between 60 and 90 hectares,” the municipality says. This means that the goals for 2030 must be achieved in the field of energy generation.
Promising areas for solar parks are two zones around (future) transformer stations. Here the solar parks can be connected to the grid. These are located around the A28 north of Beilen and around the VAM mountain. Because they are close to the connection to the grid, the costs of laying cables are lower and it has less impact on the environment.
Residents of Central Drenthe must be involved in the construction of the parks. Initiators of a park are obliged to discuss the design of the park with local residents.
The environment must also benefit financially from the park. The municipality aims for 50 percent local ownership, for example by allowing local energy cooperatives to co-own a solar park from the start.
The municipality will open registration next year. “This is a kind of beauty contest for solar-on-land projects that require an environmental permit.” The municipality will further elaborate on the grounds on which it will be decided where solar parks may be located in the near future. “For example, it is conceivable that we distinguish between lands with low agricultural quality and lands with high agricultural quality.”