Half of Dutch electricity produced from renewable sources last year

Renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and biomass accounted for approximately half of electricity production last year, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported. A year earlier, it was around 47 percent. The amount of electricity generated by solar panels and wind turbines increased significantly compared to 2023, while production from biomass decreased. Power production from fossil fuels also decreased in 2024.

Electricity generated from solar energy increased by 11 percent to 22 billion kilowatt hours. According to CBS, this rise was due to an increase in new solar panels. Electricity from panels peaked from May to August, when it accounted for approximately a third of the total.

Power production from wind energy increased by 13 percent to 33 billion kilowatt hours. Production by onshore wind farms remained virtually the same, while offshore production increased by 32 percent. Production from wind energy is generally the highest in the winter period, CBS reported. This was also the case last year, when over a third of all electricity produced came from wind energy.

The amount of electricity produced from biomass fell by 6 percent. According to the statistics agency, this was mainly due to lower biomass generation by coal-fired power stations where they co-fire biomass. The amount of electricity from coal fell by 5 percent last year. In total, production from fossil sources fell by 4 percent to 55.4 billion kilowatt hours in 2024. This was mainly due to the greater supply of cheaper electricity from solar and wind energy.