Renewable electricity; production and capacity

This table contains information about the Dutch production of renewable electricity, the number of installations used and the installed capacity of these installations. During production, a distinction is made between normalised gross production and non-standard gross and net production without normalisation.

Production of electricity is shown in million kilowatt hours and as a percentage of total electricity consumption in the Netherlands. The production of renewable electricity is compared with total electricity consumption and not against total electricity production. This choice is due to European conventions.

The data is broken down according to the type of energy source and the technique used to obtain the electricity. A distinction is made between four main categories: hydro power, wind energy, solar power and biomass.

Data available from: 1990.

Status of the figures: This table contains definite figures until 2020, revised provisional figures of 2021 and provisional figures of 2022.

Changes as of March 6th 2023 Provisional figures of 2022 have been added. The gross electricity production with normalisation (according to RED II) is not yet known for some forms of biomass for 2022. When this applies a “.“ is displayed. RED II refers to the EU renewable energy directive which came into force in 2021.

Changes as of February 8th 2023 The gross electricity production with normalisation of co-firing of biomass in electricity plants has been updated for 2021. After exchanges with the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), in charge of securing the sustainability of subsidised solid biomass for electricity and heat, it has been concluded that the solid biomass used in co-firing plants were 100% RED II compliant with respect to biomass sustainability in 2021. This results in a 3.6 billion kWh higher gross electricity production with normalisation for co-firing plants than the update in December 2022. Total renewable normalized electricity production expressed as percentage of total electricity consumption is now 3 percentage point higher. RED II refers to the EU renewable energy directive which came into force in 2021.

Changes as of December 15th 2022: Figures for 2020 and 2021 have been updated. Only solid and gaseous biomass compliant according to REDII are used to determine the gross production with normalisation from these energy sources in 2021. The gross production with normalisation for 2020 and before will not be modified anymore. This results in a difference between the gross production with and without normalisation from solar photovoltaic energy, as the not normalised production has been updated for 2020.

Changes as of June 2022: Provisional figures for 2021 have been added. From reporting year 2021, new sustainability criteria for solid and gaseous biomass will apply in the context of the EU Renewable Energy Directive (REDII). It is currently unclear whether all biomass consumed in the Netherlands meets these new sustainability criteria. For the normalised electricity production where this uncertainty applies a “.“ is displayed.

When will new figures be published? Provisional figures on electricity output for the previous year are published each year in February. Revised figures on electricity output for the previous year are published each year in June. Definite figures on electricity output for the previous year are published each year in December.