Netherlands

The Netherlands is planning a €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) green hydrogen network that will consist of 85% recycled natural gas pipes. It is expected to go online in 2027.

Rob Jetten, the Dutch energy minister, said the nation’s competition regulator is now looking at how energy suppliers are paying for surplus power from residential PV owners. He said that a reasonable tariff should cover at least 80% of energy prices.

Alliander and Groenleven have completed construction on the Netherlands’ first green hydrogen production facility. It is connected to a 50MW solar park and is expected to generate hydrogen from June.

The Haringvliet energy park consists of a 38MW solar facility a 22MW wind power complex and 12 battery containers. The three systems share the same grid connection.

The country’s cumulative installed PV power reached 14.3GW at the end of 2021.

Grid bottlenecks are increasing in the northern Netherlands and solar project developers will see fewer chances to build PV facilities there.

The south-oriented project has been under development since 2019 and is set to occupy a total surface of 10 hectares across two plots. It will provide power to the municipalities of Bunnik, Odijk, and Werkhoven

Netbeheer Nederland has provided a new map for grid congested areas warning that grid-connection issues may also arise in less problematic areas. Solar, in particular, is claimed to be responsible for increasing grid-constraints.

The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy is now reviewing 54,109 renewable energy projects totaling 5.17 GW in the first round of the SDE+ program for 2021. Solar accounts for around 80% of the total submitted capacity.

The Netherlands storage industry association and the Dutch grid operators have proposed a faster phasing out of the net metering scheme to enable wider adoption of batteries among PV system owners. A 30% rebate on the purchase and installation of residential storage systems could help achieve the plan.