Court orders closure of solar park sections near Schiphol due to glare affecting pilots

The solar park near Schiphol that is causing issues for pilots due to sunlight being reflected into their eyes has been ordered to be partly removed by a judge in Haarlem. Schiphol had initiated summary proceedings against the owner of the solar park, De Groene Energie Corridor. The airport feels that the entire solar park is a danger to flight safety, and was angered by the decision from the judge in the District Court for Noord-Holland, as they feel this partial victory does not actually solve the issue.

Schiphol feels that there are other parts of the solar park that are now allowed to stay that also cause an “unacceptable safety risk,” according to the airport. Schiphol hopes that an enforcement request sent this week by the ILT aviation authority “will lead to further action.”

The solar park is directly below the landing routes for the runways Polderbaan and Zwanenburgbaan. The park consists of four fields with almost 230,000 solar panels. Over 78,000 of these, which are on two fields, have to be removed. The judge has said that these are the panels that are causing the reflections.

However, Schiphol believes that the glare also comes from the other two fields. The airport closed the Polderbaan runway for landing air traffic between 10 a.m. and noon in March to avoid the issue, and is expecting more problems to arise in August.

The Aviation Authority of the Dutch Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) reported on Tuesday that the environmental permit for the solar park should be revoked. To that end, it had submitted a request to the municipality of Haarlemmermeer.

However, the ILT Aviation Authority can only take enforcement action against Schiphol itself, not against the municipality responsible for the environmental permit.

The judge ruled that De Groene Energie Corridor has "caused a situation that is a severe threat to flight safety," despite the fact that the municipality granted the company a permit. Therefore, the company has been ordered to take measures.

The owner of the company will be forced to pay a penalty of a million euros if the solar panels are not removed by the court ordered date. Another 500,000 euros will be added to this for every day that the panels remain, up to 25 million euros.

De Groene Energie Corridor are disappointed with the judge's verdict. “DGEC believes that it is not acting unlawfully and should not be held responsible for the costs of the measures. We will carefully study the ruling and its implications for DGEC and decide on further steps accordingly.”

KLM "welcomed" the verdict, but remains concerned about the remaining solar panels. For this reason, the airline is also contemplating further steps. According to KLM, closure of runways leads to millions of euros in damage a day.