Around 550 MW of solar systems below 1 MW in capacity were installed in the Netherlands during the first half of the year (H1), according to provisional figures shared by independent research agency Dutch New Energy Research.
Hrvoje Medarac, team leader at the research institute, told pv magazine there are currently no official numbers for the year and uncertainty around the available data for large-scale systems. Last year’s deployment statistics were firmed up last month, with the national statistics agency CBS counting 4.32 GW of solar capacity added across the Netherlands in 2024, bringing cumulative capacity to 28.62 GW.
The Dutch government collapsed in June, meaning the country is currently in the midst of an election cycle ahead of elections in October. Medarac explained that the previous government “wasn't sending particularly positive messages for the solar market, which had an impact on low sales in the residential and C&I sectors”.
“At the moment, none of the markets is performing particularly well,” Medarac said. “In terms of absolute numbers, residential installations could be a bit higher than C&I, but when current sales are compared to peak sales in the first half of 2023, the C&I sector has decreased relatively less than residential.”
In the large-scale market, Medarac explained that subsidies continue to support the construction of new capacities. The latest round of the SDE++ program allocated almost 1.8 GW of solar capacity, including 1,237 MW of ground-mounted projects, 448 MW of industrial rooftop systems and 107 MW of floating installations.
However, Medarac also warned that a high share of solar energy in power demand is increasing the number of negative power prices, which in turn has an impact on the profitability of investment in large-scale solar. Analysis by Dutch research firm Stratergy recently found the Netherlands recorded more negative energy price hours over the first eight months of this year than it did throughout 2024.
Medarac also told pv magazine that the Netherlands remains far from its long-term targets and said that in order to reach them, all energy consumption sectors need to decarbonise. “Transport will most probably move towards some kind of electric vehicles, while industry and heavy transport might have a need for hydrogen,” Medarac said. “Services and residential sectors will electrify their energy needs. This will all increase the power demand.”
“Having in mind the energy potential in The Netherlands, this will most probably mean additional investments in solar, wind, battery storage and grid improvements both at transmission and distribution levels,” Medarac added. “Now, it's up to the new government to find the most appropriate way to make this happen.”
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