New regulations

Subsidy applicants in 1994 stand to gain a little less support and have fewer turbines to choose from -- but no longer will the process be dominated by huge utility projects. The new regulations, if approved by the EU, require that government agency NOVEM select projects in order of their stated installation date. Projects not installed by the stated date will forfeit their subsidies. The change in regulations, which will no longer use costs, output and capacity as the main criteria for selection, should end complaints from small scale developers that subsidies have been blocked by their big but slow counterparts, usually from utility circles. Subsidies drop slightly this year, to NLG 240 per square metre of rotor swept area plus NLG 160 per kilowatt of rated capacity. The upper limit of 35% of project costs remains unchanged. Choice of turbines is also limited by the requirement that they meet the national NEN-6096 norm before being eligible for subsidy. The earlier interim norms are no longer acceptable. Lagerwey, Micon, WindMaster and Enercon have turbines in this category. The following are certified: Nedwind 250 kW and 500 kW; Micon 400 kW; WindMaster 750 kW; Nordtank 300 kW. Lagerwey, Tacke and Kenetech of California are reportedly preparing papers ready for the Dutch market.