Submitting the plan on time is one thing, but the country still has its work cut out to meet its 2020 target under the European Union directive.
By 2020, renewables' contribution to the total energy supply must have climbed 11.6 percentage points from the 2005 level of 2.4%. To help achieve that goal, the Netherlands is banking on a total of 6GW in three rounds of offshore development in the next ten years, according to Ike Teuling, an energy campaigner at lobby group Greenpeace.
The first round of 228MW is already completed, with rounds of 950MW and 4.8GW to follow. The action plan cites no specific target for onshore wind, but the government earlier sought 3.6GW by next year, from the 2.2GW currently in place.
An incentive mechanism that came into force in 2008, the Stimuleringsregeling Duurzame Energie, provides EUR5.3 billion in support for offshore wind and EUR1.3 billion for onshore, says Teuling.
There is a law granting renewables priority access to the grid, and the government is also stepping in to co-ordinate permitting to ease bottlenecks. It has said up to 15GW of wind could be added to the Dutch grid without strain (“uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç Special Report Europe 2020, March 2009).
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