How much distance should there be between a windmill and a home? It is a current question that the right -wing cabinet distributes, and where coalition parties VVD and BBB are directly opposite each other. The government is unable to agree on environmental and distance standards for wind turbines, initiates confirm after reporting in De Telegraaf. And then the big decisions about extra money for more climate measures – or not – have to come.
It is a battle for the scarce space in the Netherlands, where plans for windmills and homes displace each other. A proposal on such windmill standards, on which the infrastructure and Waterstaat (IenW) and Climate and Green Growth (KGG) ministries (KGG) were agreement, recently received fierce opposition from BBB minister Mona Keijzer, the Hague sources told NRC.
Since the Council of State declared the existing standards for windmills invalid four years ago, because adequate environmental assessment was missing, politics is looking for new rules for the construction of wind turbines. This must take into account noise pollution of wind turbines. Politics also wanted a ‘distance standard’: that is clear for local residents.
‘Tip height’
A few weeks ago, that standard seemed almost found to the ministries of IenW (responsible for the environment) and KGG. The plan was: between a windmill and house, the length of a windmill leaf must be twice: the ‘tip height’.
But Minister Keijzer lay down for that, say sources of The Hague. Keijzer did not want two, but four times that length. Something that makes the new construction of wind farms on land virtually impossible, says the wind sector. The Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning did not want to respond to content on Thursday.
The Ministry of Climate and Green Growth, led by VVD minister Sophie Hermans, emphasizes that the proposal of ‘twice the tip height’ is already a significant tightening of the current situation. This keeps “a maximum of 20 percent” of all possible locations for wind farms available, the ministry says.
Principal issue for BBB
For the BBB, wind energy on land is a matter of principle. The “stopping new projects” on land was one of the party’s campaign blows. Moreover, the BBB in regional boards has a lot to do with dissatisfaction with wind turbines.
That the BBB hesitates about new climate measures turned out earlier. In October, Minister Keijzer paused extra sustainability requirements for homes. All regulations that could delay housing had to be evaluated, she left know to the room.
I say it once: we live in a small country where we want a lot. Economic activity and clean energy, that must co -exist
There are now 2,500 wind turbines on land in the Netherlands. Around 100 must be added before 2030. What is needed after 2030 still has to be recorded by this cabinet. At the same time, it is clear that the Netherlands will not achieve the European guidelines for the generation of sustainable energy in 2030 (just like in 2020).
If strict standards make new wind farms impossible, it shifts to the task to other places, for example more wind at sea, or to nuclear energy such as BBB and PVV especially want.
Middle position VVD
In the Lower House, the VVD tried to present itself on Thursday as the reasonable middle between the “climate drammers” and those who “don’t want anything.” Member of Parliament Silvio Erkens thought it was best to delete a large part of the intended wind locations through stricter standards, in order to meet the BBB, but does not want to exclude wind energy on land.
PVV MP Alexander Kops repeated the text of his party leader Geert Wilders on X that the PVV would support more windmills on land ‘in no one hundred thousand years’.
In the meantime, the opposition watched with surprise. For example, CU MP Pieter Grinwis noted that most “opposition comes from the coalition itself”. “VAT, windmills, there is no proposal yet or it will be flared again on X”.
GL/PvdA MP Suzanne Kröger said he was “big worried” about the climate agreements in the spring, now that climate minister Hermans “seems to be being held hostage by the coalition.”
In the coming period, it must become clear whether Minister Hermans wants to stick to the distance standards for wind turbines on land. In the House of Representatives, the minister expressed himself against the BBB proposal of ‘four times the tip height’ on Thursday. “I say it once: we live in a small country where we want a lot. Economic activity and clean energy, that must co -exist. ”
The cabinet recently postponed the deadline of 1 June 2025 for the new environmental standards.
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