Goed nieuws! In the first half of 2024, more than half of the electricity produced in the Netherlands came from renewable sources instead of fossil fuels — this has never happened before.
To be exact, in the last six months, renewable energy accounted for 53% of the Netherlands’ total electricity production, reports the Dutch Bureau of Statistics (CBS).
Wind and solar are in
The stars who made this achievement possible are *drum roll*… the wind and sun! 🌬️🌞
But also the amazing Dutch infrastructure that helped capture their power: this year, renewable energy production increased by 1% — largely due to new or improved wind farms and solar panels.
READ MORE | Renewable energy in the Netherlands: everything you need to know
This improvement allowed the Netherlands to produce more solar energy than last year despite the sun shining less often compared to the first half of 2023.
After all, if the Dutch have one talent, it’s soaking up every last ray of sunshine — and transforming it into electricity, apparently!
Coal is out
Energy production from biomass, in turn, declined, only accounting for 10% of this year’s renewable energy production. However, this is not entirely bad news.
Since biomass energy production is often the product of co-firing in coal-powered plants, its decline actually reflects a positive trend — the Netherlands is saying doei to coal!
With the solar and wind energy industries increasing their capacity and their productivity, renewable sources are becoming cheaper than coal.
As a result, this year, energy produced using coal fell by almost 40% compared to the first half of 2023.
Natural gas, however, still makes up 35% of the total Dutch energy production — meaning that fossil fuels are not yet a thing of the past.
Domestic consumption is growing
Finally, another noteworthy development was the increase in domestic energy consumption, which is almost back at pre-Covid levels.
Moreover, cheap nuclear and hydroelectric energy from France has lured away some of the Netherlands’ regular customers, resulting in a sharp decline in exports (-10%), especially towards Belgium and Germany.
Nonetheless, these negative developments don’t erase the fact that, for the first time ever, more electricity is being created in the Netherlands using renewable sources than fossil fuels. 🌱
Do you think the Netherlands will keep up the good work in the second half of the year? Make your predictions in the comments below.
