The Netherlands adds around 550 MW of small-scale solar in H1
Summary
Provisional estimates from research agency Dutch New Energy Research indicate around 550 MW of solar systems less than 1 MW in size were installed in the Netherlands across the first half of this year.
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Provisional estimates from research agency Dutch New Energy Research indicate around 550 MW of solar systems less than 1 MW in size were installed in the Netherlands across the first half of this year.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Around 550 MW of solar systems below 1 MW in capacity were installed in </span><a href="https://www.pv-magazine.com/region/netherlands/" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">the Netherlands</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> during the first half of the year (H1), according to provisional figures shared by independent research agency Dutch New Energy Research.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hrvoje Medarac, team leader at the research institute, told </span><b>pv magazine</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> there are currently no official numbers for the year and uncertainty around the available data for large-scale systems. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Last year’s deployment statistics were firmed up last month, with the national statistics agency CBS counting </span><a href="https://www.pv-magazine.com/2025/08/07/netherlands-installs-4-32-gw-of-solar-in-2024/" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">4.32 GW</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> of solar capacity added across the Netherlands in 2024, bringing cumulative capacity to 28.62 GW.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Dutch government collapsed in June, meaning the country is currently in the midst of an election cycle ahead of elections in October. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Medarac explained that the previous government “wasn't sending particularly positive messages for the solar market, which had an impact on low sales in the residential and C&I sectors”.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“At the moment, none of the markets is performing particularly well,” Medarac said. “In terms of absolute numbers, residential installations could be a bit higher than C&I, but when current sales are compared to peak sales in the first half of 2023, the C&I sector has decreased relatively less than residential.” </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the large-scale market, Medarac explained that subsidies continue to support the construction of new capacities. The latest round of the SDE++ program allocated almost </span><a href="https://www.pv-magazine.com/2025/06/19/netherlands-allocates-1-8-gw-of-pv-in-latest-sde-program/" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">1.8 GW</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> of solar capacity, including 1,237 MW of ground-mounted projects, 448 MW of industrial rooftop systems and 107 MW of floating installations.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">However, Medarac also warned that a high share of solar energy in power demand is increasing the number of negative power prices, which in turn has an impact on the profitability of investment in large-scale solar. Analysis by Dutch research firm Stratergy recently found the Netherlands recorded more </span><a href="https://www.pv-magazine.com/2025/09/01/netherlands-registers-record-number-of-negative-energy-prices/" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">negative energy price hours</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> over the first eight months of this year than it did throughout 2024.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Medarac also told </span><b>pv magazine</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> that the Netherlands remains far from its long-term targets and said that in order to reach them, all energy consumption sectors need to decarbonise. “Transport will most probably move towards some kind of electric vehicles, while industry and heavy transport might have a need for hydrogen,” Medarac said. “Services and residential sectors will electrify their energy needs. This will all increase the power demand.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Having in mind the energy potential in The Netherlands, this will most probably mean additional investments in solar, wind, battery storage and grid improvements both at transmission and distribution levels,” Medarac added. “Now, it's up to the new government to find the most appropriate way to make this happen.”</span></p>