Publications

Survey of Energy Resources 2007

Solar Country Notes

Netherlands
There is at present no national programme for organising the deployment of photovoltaic systems, but various aids to individuals and companies are in place. The feed-in tariff has, however, been set at a low level and requires the PV owner to buy a special meter, to become a member of EnerQ, the managers of the MEP (Milieukwaliteit van de Elektriciteitsproductie) regulation under which the tariff is offered, and to acquire green-certificates. A net-metering scheme for small-scale domestic PV systems was launched in 2005.

At end-2005 a total of 50 776 kWp PV had been installed, of which 4 919 kWp was off-grid, 43 377 kWp grid-connected distributed and 2 480 kWp grid-connected centralised.

By the end of 2005, the City of the Sun Project, partly financed by the European Union, had installed 3.7 MWp (out of a targeted level of 5 MWp) in the new HAL neighbourhoods in the vicinity of Heerhugowaard, Alkmaar and Langedijk.

Development of the Dutch solar thermal market began in the mid-1970s and, owing to support from the Government in the form of a Long-Term Agreement for the Implementation of Solar Hot Water Systems (SHWS) and also subsidy schemes, it showed considerable success, especially in the house-building sector. By 2001 nearly 15% of all new residential dwellings were supplied with a Domestic Hot Water (DHW) system.

Installation of solar thermal systems in existing buildings had almost stopped after 2003 when the financial incentives ended but the new-build market was revitalised owing to tighter energy efficiency regulations. In 2005, 15-20% of all new buildings incorporated a solar thermal system and the total glazed area of solar thermal collectors in operation was 304 000 m2, giving an output capacity of about 213 MWt.