Netherlands

Netherlands trade body Holland Solar has asked the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy for an extension of grid-connection deadlines for solar projects being built under the SDE+ incentive program for large scale renewables. The association also urged Dutch municipalities to keep processing permits.

The Dutch government said that the budget increase will allow several solar projects that were excluded from the previous round to secure contracts in the next one. In the last round, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency received €9.06 billion of applications for just €5 billion of available subsidies.

It is not clear whether panels will line the Rijksweg 59 highway or be sited next to a stretch of it. UK oil giant Shell is planning the installation as part of a renewables cluster to also feature wind power.

Dutch transmission system operator Enexis is deploying 11 “e-house” substations in the northern Netherlands, where grid capacity for large scale clean energy projects is limited. The company said it will invest €43 million in the plan “to speed up the energy transition”.

Under Tennet’s most optimistic outlook, solar generation capacity could more than double the volume of wind farms by the end of the decade, provided the Netherlands goes above and beyond Paris Agreement climate change requirements.

The electricity generated by the PV panels will be used to power the surrounding lighting system, as well as to heat the lane in winter to prevent road slipperiness caused by snow, ice or water. The project is part of a plan by the Dutch government to test the viability of solar power production on road infrastructure.

The Dutch PV manufacturer plans to start production this year after a last-minute rescue package arrived as the company’s equipment was being auctioned off.

The public charging points will be installed in the provinces of North Holland, Flevoland and Utrecht. The oil giant said they would all be powered by renewable energy.

The Dutch water management agency plans to install solar panels along both sides of the A37 highway in Drenthe province, as well as on the median strip, to cover 300 hectares in total. The project is part of a plan to build projects on state land, as the domestic PV industry continues to search for alternative surfaces on which to deploy solar.

Dutch utility Liander has published a new list congested areas in the provinces of Flevoland, Friesland, Gelderland, Noord-Holland, and Zuid-Holland. The company said that developers of solar parks who are still waiting for grid connection may have to wait longer for additional grid capacity.