NL produced more sustainable energy than coal power for first time

The Netherlands generated more electricity from sustainable sources than from coal for the first time ever last year, Statistics Netherlands reported on Tuesday. The amount of energy produced also reached record high.

Last year the Netherlands produced 121 billion kWh of electricity, 6 percent more than in 2018. Electricity generated using coal decreased from over 27 billion kWh in 2018 to over 17 billion kWh last year. And energy generated from sustainable sources increased from nearly 19 billion kWh to nearly 22 billion kWh.

As the electricity generation from coal decreased, production using natural gas increased, from nearly 58 billion kWh to 71 billion kWh. According to the stats office, this has to do with the low gas price, and high price of CO2 emissions. Generating energy from gas emits relatively less CO2 than doing so from coal.

The Netherlands' consumption of electricity was about the same in 2019 as in 2018. This combined with the record high production resulted in a decrease of electricity imports, from 26.8 billion kWh in 2018 to 20.4 billion kWh last year. Electricity exports increased slightly, from 18.8 billion kWh to 19.5 billion kWh.