According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), renewable energy sources are used for more than half of electricity production in the Netherlands. This makes it the first time ever that more of the country’s electricity is coming from solar and wind energy than fossil fuels.
In the first six months of 2024, 32,3 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity in the Netherlands was produced from renewable energy sources - 53 percent of the 60,5 billion kWh total. While there was less sunlight this year than normal, a larger number of solar panels resulted in an increase in solar energy production to 11,7 billion kWh, up 0,8 billion kWh from last year.
Wind energy made up 17,4 billion kWh of electricity production, which is 4,4 billion kWh more than in the same period last year. More wind energy was harnessed from new wind farms at sea and the replacement of old, smaller turbines with larger ones. Over 60 percent of the extra wind energy came from sea-based wind farms.
Electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar energy has become much cheaper than coal power, which meant coal-fired power plants struggled to offer competitive energy prices. Because of this, only 3,9 billion kWh of electricity was produced from burning coal - almost 40 percent less than in the first half of 2023. Electricity production from natural gas also dropped to 21,3 billion kWh.
The energy consumption in the country increased by 5 percent to 55,8 kWh in the first half of this year, slightly less than levels before the coronavirus pandemic. The Netherlands also exported more electricity than it imported despite drops in the amount of electricity provided to countries such as Germany and Belgium.
The Dutch government plans to continue using more renewable energy sources and wants 70 percent of electricity to come from sustainable sources by 2030.