Over half of electricity production now comes from renewable sources

Electricity production from renewable sources increased to 32.3 billion kWh in the first half of 2024. This brought the share of renewable electricity up to 53 percent of total electricity production. Imports and exports of electricity both fell, but the Netherlands exported 2.3 billion kWh more than it imported in the first six months of 2024. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports this based on newly released figures.

Total electricity production increased by 1 percent in the first half of 2024, to 60.5 billion kWh. And, for the first time, more electricity was produced from renewable sources (53 percent) than from fossil fuels. Meanwhile, electricity consumption increased by 5 percent to 55.8 billion kWh in the same period. This was slightly below the pre-pandemic level.

Electricity production from wind increases by a third

Electricity production from wind increased to 17.4 billion kWh in the first half of 2024 – an increase of 4.4 billion kWh. More than two-thirds of that increase was attributable to offshore wind. The main cause of the increase in electricity generated from wind was the increase in installed capacity, both offshore and onshore. The new offshore wind farms of Hollandse Kust Zuid (I-IV) and Hollandse Kust Noord (V) made a particularly significant positive contribution to offshore wind capacity. Onshore capacity also expanded, particularly in Flevoland, where last year several older, smaller wind turbines were replaced with larger, newer turbines capable of generating more power. In the province of Flevoland alone, capacity increased by 0.4 GW in 2023. Nationwide, wind capacity increased by 2.0 GW in 2023 (an extra 0.6 GW for onshore wind, and an extra 1.4 GW for offshore wind).

Solar electricity production increased to 11.7 billion kWh, an increase of 0.8 billion kWh. This was due to the addition of more capacity: fewer hours of sunshine were actually received than in the first half of 2023.

Electricity production from biomass fell by 16 percent, mainly due to less co-firing in coal-fired power plants in the first half of 2024. Coal-fired power plants also spent less time in operation.