Share of renewable energy 5,9 percent

Energy consumption from renewable sources in the Netherlands amounted to 2016 percent in 5,9. That is almost the same as in 2015, when total energy consumption from renewable sources amounted to 5,8 percent. Statistics Netherlands will announce this on Tuesday 30 May. 

Renewable energy is energy from natural sources. These sources are constantly being supplemented. Examples are wind, hydropower, sun, soil, outside air heat, heat from freshly milked milk and biomass.

Biomass the largest source
​In 2016, renewable energy consumption totaled 125 petajoules (PJ). This is 5 percent more than the year before. Biomass remains the largest source of energy at almost 63 percent. However, energy consumption from this source has decreased by 2 percent in the past year. It is striking that the use of wind energy and solar energy increased by more than 20 percent last year. 

Compared to 2015, total energy consumption in the Netherlands has increased by almost 4 percent to 2119 petajoules. Since total energy consumption has also increased, the increase in renewable energy has not directly led to a larger share of total consumption. 

Growth of wind energy and solar energy
As mentioned above, the increase in solar energy and wind energy in 2016 was over 20 percent. With that, it reached 37 PJ. The installation of 600 megawatts (MW) of wind turbines at sea in particular caused consumption to increase considerably.

The installed capacity of solar panels increased by a record amount of 500 megawatts to 2000 megawatts.

Less use of biofuels
The consumption of biofuels for transport has decreased by about 20 percent. In 2015, the consumption of biofuels had already fallen by 10 percent.

A major cause of this is a change in the law. Since 2015, it has been possible for fuel suppliers to count biofuels towards the obligation, while it is not yet certain whether these biofuels will actually come onto the Dutch market. 

In other biomass consumption, such as waste incineration plants, biogas and consumption in power stations and by companies and households, the changes were limited to a few percent. 

Heat, electricity and transport
Energy from renewable sources is used for heat, electricity and transport. In 2016, almost half of the consumption was intended for heat. More than 40 percent was used for electricity and just under 10 percent for transport. 

On Wednesday 31 May, the House of Representatives will discuss the report on sustainable development, which was published by Statistics Netherlands on 17 May.

Kimberly Baker

Kimberly Bakker is an all-round editor at Boerenbusiness. She also has an eye for the social media channels of Boerenbusiness.

k.baker @boerenbusiness. Nl

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