Solar panels deliver 15 pct. more power than expected

Solar panels in the Netherlands yielded 15 percent more energy than average during the first 5 months of the year, leading to 30 euros extra discount on the energy bill for solar panel owners. The reason for the more energy is that the country had more sunshine than usual.

This is according to an analysis by energy company Essent based on the amount of sunshine and global solar radiation measured by the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, or KNMI.

Between January and May this year, the Netherlands had sunshine for 786 hours, compared to the average of 669 hours. April in particular had more hours of sunshine than usual.

Between January and May 2014 solar panels yielded 4 percent, or 12 euros, more than the average. There were 724 hours of sunshine in the first five months of last year.