Solar firm warns bankruptcy risk if Schiphol enforces panel removal over flight safety

The solar energy firm De Groene Energie Corridor (DGEC) is reportedly facing financial ruin and escalating legal pressure after a Dutch court ordered the removal of more than 78,000 solar panels near Schiphol Airport, citing a serious risk to flight safety caused by glare. DGEC has warned that full dismantling of the park, which includes nearly 230,000 panels, would force the company into bankruptcy, while Schiphol continues to push for complete removal and has asked the government to intervene, De Telegraaf reports.

A court in Haarlem ruled that DGEC must remove panels from two of the park’s four fields—A and B—by September 1. The court concluded the glare from the installation poses “a severe threat to flight safety” and agreed with Schiphol’s argument that the reflections blind pilots approaching the airport’s busy Polderbaan runway.

DGEC confirmed it would comply with the court order and expects to begin dismantling the required panels soon. However, the operator maintains that removing the entire park, as Schiphol demands, is both unnecessary and economically devastating.

In a letter to Infrastructure Minister Mark Harbers, who remains in office in a demissionary capacity, DGEC representative Bert Creemers called the airport’s demand “improper” and “disproportionately harmful.” He warned that forced dismantling without compensation would bankrupt the company and delay removal, driving up costs and harming all parties involved.

Instead, DGEC proposed cheaper alternatives such as applying anti-reflective spray or film to the panels, which it claims would solve the glare issue without requiring full dismantling. The company argues these measures could reduce risk at a fraction of the cost.

Schiphol rejected that approach, stating safety is the only priority. “Schiphol is not concerned with how the problem is solved, but demands that it be solved,” a spokesperson said Monday. The airport described dismantling the panels as a “necessary first step.”

The solar park lies directly under the approach routes to the Polderbaan and Zwanenburgbaan runways. Schiphol said that if the panels are not fully removed by early September, it will have no choice but to close Polderbaan daily from 10 a.m. to noon when glare conditions are most dangerous. A similar closure occurred in March. Such shutdowns, Schiphol said, would disrupt airport capacity, affect thousands of travelers, and cause more noise nuisance for residents as alternative runways are used.

Sources in the aviation sector estimate the economic impact of runway closures at around 300 million euros, according to De Telegraaf. Schiphol plans to submit a damages claim to the municipality of Haarlemmermeer, which issued the park’s environmental permit.

Despite growing pressure, the municipality has not revoked the permit. A municipal spokesperson told Dutch media they are “still trying to reach an agreement with all parties to prevent the Polderbaan from having to close again at the end of August.” In March, the municipality stated the panels would be removed, but no enforcement action has followed. “We cannot yet enforce the removal of the solar panels,” the spokesperson said.

The Dutch aviation safety regulator, the Inspectorate for the Environment and Transport (ILT), has backed Schiphol’s position. The ILT advised Haarlemmermeer to revoke the park’s permit, but the municipality insists it lacks legal grounds to do so. The ILT itself does not have enforcement powers over the municipality, only over Schiphol.

DGEC contends the situation is being mishandled. The company says that when the park was approved, no objections were filed by Schiphol, the ILT, or Air Traffic Control Netherlands (LVNL). The “prudential glare norm” that Schiphol now uses to justify removal was created later—at the airport’s request—and has not been independently validated, according to DGEC.

Schiphol claims it did not object earlier because the original permit specified “deeply textured” anti-glare panels. A later, unpublished letter from the Environmental Service reportedly approved a switch to different panels without informing Schiphol. The airport says it only became aware of the change after the fact, prompting its legal action.

The Haarlem court has so far only ordered removal of the panels in fields A and B. Fields C and D, which contain the remaining panels, may continue operating for now. But Schiphol has made clear that all four fields contribute to the glare problem, and it continues to push for full dismantling.

For DGEC, the stakes are existential. “The uncompensated removal of the park would bankrupt the company,” Creemers wrote to Harbers. “This will further delay removal and increase costs and damage for all parties.”