No Windmills On Land Yet

The plans to put more wind turbines on land can be best postponed by five years. This is the outcome of a study of the Central Planning Bureau (CPB) on Monday. The CPB looked, at the request of the government, to the financial effects of the plans.

According to the CPB is postponing the operation, to produce 3,500 megawatts of wind power on land, the best now during the economic crisis. Due to the crisis there is less demand for energy. There is overcapacity and the prices are so low that any extension of the production will cause loss. According to the CPB, electricity prices will rise as the economy picks up again.

Public treasury

Postponement of plans is also beneficial for the state treasury, according to the CPB, because fewer grants are needed.  The disadvantage is that it is difficult for the Netherlands to honor agreements that 16 percent of all energy should be generated sustainably in 2020 and emissions of the greenhouse gas CO2 should be reduced by 20 percent. The delay could result in fines of the European Union, but the goals in the areas such as environment and climate will only be slightly affected, according to the CPB.

House

The plea called reactions. "The accountants of the CPB only look at money and not at the economy that we need in the future," believes GroenLinks MP Liesbeth van Tongeren. She wants that the government solves both the financial crisis and the sustainability crisis. PvdA MP Jan Vos reacts cynical. "The CPB recommends not to place the windmills yet but advises to let's just nice continue CO2 emissions because it is much cheaper. Nope."

ChristenUnie MP Carla Dik-Faber is surprised. "The CPB will delay onshore wind and meanwhile subsidized coal plants will run? Forget it!," she said on Twitter.

PVV MP Reinette Klever wants to let the government take one step further. "The CPB advises to delay windmills on land for five years, the PVV wants to totally stop windmills on land: sustainability is expensive."

Natuur en Milieu considers it ‘a strange argument' of the CPB. According to them, the demand for renewable energy in the future will only increase. Every day the production of sustainable energy is stopped is a lost day.