Netherlands
PV technology status and prospects
Jan-Willem Jehee and Michiel van Schalkwijk, Ecofys on behalf of Novem 		home > annual reports > annual report 2002 >

General Framework

Fig. 1 - PV integrated on roofs in Purmerend. 2002 was politically very turbulent for the Netherlands. A new right wing government announced large budget cuts on several subsidy schemes applicable for renewable energies in 2003. Specifically two tax measures, EIA and VAMIL, were affected, leading to hesitation in renewable energies investments; in particular by utility companies. In addition, green power was taxed, which could lead to a decreased interest from electricity consumers due to higher prices. Denmark-like effects were feared.

The new government fell already in autumn 2002. At the end of 2002, the clouds seemed to be disappearing rapidly for renewable energy in general. The most important tax measure EIA was restored for renewable energy investments and most utilities leave their green power prices unchanged, resulting in a continuous demand for green power. A support scheme for renewable energy production was installed, which is called MEP. Only for photovoltaics it may not have so much effect, since the bonus per produced kWh is limited to 6,8 EUR cents, similar to the bonus for off shore wind production. That means that it is very unlikely that this regulation will increase investments in solar by utilities.

For the private consumer market the Energy Premium Regulation still is the most important tool. In 2002, the responsibility for the co-ordination and promotion of the regulation was transferred from the Ministry of Economic Affairs to the Ministry of Housing. It was also decided to transform the regulation from a fiscal measure into a generic subsidy. With system prices for private consumers fluctuating around the 7,- EUR / Wp, the EPR subsidy of 3,50 EUR is an effective incentive. In 2002, this subsidy was raised with a 25 % bonus to 4,375 EUR / Wp after a positive Energy Performance Assessment (EPA). Although the EPA bonus will be changed to 10 % in 2003, the subsidy given by the EPR will remain equal. In 2002 the EPR proved very successful for the DIY market for small systems. Many thousands of customers used the opportunity to buy a small (< 600 Wp) PV system.
Where the energy premium regulation was a good incentive for the private consumer, the project developers were still unable to use this subsidy scheme. As a consequence, project developers had difficulties financing their PV projects, which made it more difficult for PV to be implemented on newly built houses. Only developers with very short building times have been willing to rely on the EPR.

Although a negative impact of the liberalization of the energy market was feared, it had a positive influence in the Netherlands. The competing utilities already introduced an extra subsidy for PV. In order to receive this subsidy, customers have to be a client of the utility. For PV, these subsidies are around 1,- EUR/ Wp. Also, some smaller utilities and energy traders are offering feed-in tariffs for PV, ranging from 0,18 EUR- 0,25 EUR per kWh. Another effect of the liberalization is that utilities are competing on the green energy market by stating the origin of their electricity: Essent, for example, makes a statement of the fact that their green electricity is produced in the Netherlands. The same way, Nuon put extra focus on their solar component in their ‘Natuurstroom’.
This already resulted in the construction of the largest solar roof of the world, which was on display at the Floriade 2002. The solar roof consists of 19 000 PV panels with a total power adding up to 2,3 MWp. Since the Floriade had a couple of million visitors, this was an enormous promotion of solar in The Netherlands.
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National Programme

Fig.2 - Solar roofs in Langedijk, a part of the City of the Sun. Last year, the Renewable Energy Programme (BSE-DEN), carried out by Novem, consisted of two calls, one in August and one in December. At the moment of writing this report only the results of the August call were known, and they turned out to be disappointing for PV. Only a few PV research projects were able to compete with mainly wind and biomass projects. Due to the Dutch target of 10 % renewable energy in 2020, biomass and wind energy projects took priority over PV. For highly innovative PV research projects, subsidies were available from the New Energy Research (NEO) subsidy scheme that was opened in April 2002. This will only be a small inducement for PV research, since this subsidy scheme has a relatively small budget for a large range of energy research.
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Research and development

Solar cell research in the Netherlands is still mainly concentrated on improving multi crystalline and amorphous silicon production, but the work on CIS by Scheuten Solar is gaining in importance. As the BSE DEN programme appears to be a more difficult option for solar energy research, the R&D in the Netherlands is mainly relying on European support programmes.
In addition, many Dutch PV parties are co-operating in the preparation of an important national research project in a framework for improving technology infrastructure in The Netherlands. When successful, this could outline the R&D work for all important solar involved parties for the next 4 years, starting in 2004.

The short-term changes in the governmental policy for photovoltaics have certainly influenced the short lead time research projects, like the development of inverters and PV building products. Existing products were improved, for instance to fit the demands of the German market, existing projects continued, but no new initiatives were started for these products.

In spite of this, an interesting improvement for PV was developed. The companies OKE-services, ECN, NKF electronics and Oskomera Solar Power Solutions together used the NEO programme to develop a PV mounting construction called PV-wirefree. This mounting construction also serves as a current conductor, thus bringing back the wiring to a minimum. Secondly, whereas normally all PV panels are connected in series, this system connects the panels in a parallel circuit. Apart from the advantages on the level of safety (low voltage PV system), this mounting construction is estimated to reduce the costs of the installation by 50 %. It is expected to be brought to the market in 2003 or 2004.
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Industry Status

Fig. 3 - PV roofs on in Etten-Leur. Each house is supplied with a 2,7 kWp system. At the end of 2002, Shell Solar announced the closing of their factory in Helmond, which is due in April 2003. Streamlining the production after the Siemens and Shell merger last year, together with world wide production overcapacity were mentioned as the main reasons. The closing of the factory in Helmond effectively ends the production of solar panels in the Netherlands.

Both Mastervolt and NKF launched new types of inverters on the Dutch market.

The most important newcomer in 2002 was Philips Solar, who started selling their complete PV system in July 2002. With the participation of Philips, industrial interest in solar was given new momentum. It is expected that other important parties will come to the Netherlands in due time.

With a decreasing coordinating role of Novem/Ministry of Economic Affairs the urge was felt to get organized better as an economic entity. This resulted in the restart of the PV industry association under the umbrella of Holland Solar. In 2003, this will evolve into the most important solar platform in The Netherlands.
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Demonstration, Implementation and Market Development

As stated before, NUON displayed the world largest roof integrated PV system at the Floriade 2002 exhibition near Amsterdam Airport, totaling 2,3 MWp of semitransparent photovoltaic panels. The City of the Sun, a project where 5 MWp in total is planned in a new urban area between the municipalities Heerhugowaard, Alkmaar and Langedijk, encountered problems caused by the uncertainty of the budget cuts of the government. Because the financing of the “City of the Sun” was a.o. based on both the Dutch EPR and a subsidy of the European Union, the announced budget cuts of the government directly endangered the project. The European Union demanded financial guarantees in order to subsidize the project “The City of the Sun.” This caused a great deal of commotion, finally resulting in a guarantee fund of € 1 600 000 raised by the province of Noord-Holland, the municipality of Heerhugowaard and the utility Nuon. This guarantee fund could compensate for the worst case scenario if PV would not be subsidized by the EPR. Fortunately, this will not be necessary in 2003. At the end of 2002, there was approximately 1,5 MWp installed.

Fig. 4 - The 1 MWp solar renovation project of Housing Corporation St. Joseph, Apeldoorn. In Apeldoorn, Housing Corporation St. Joseph installed 1 MWp of Lafarge systems in the countries biggest solar renovation project. The project clearly shows the potential of the EPR for housing corporations. It is expected that this example convinces more corporations in the next few years.

Many other attractive and innovative demonstration projects were completed in 2002. They can be seen on two websites: www.pvdata-base.com and www.pvinfo.nl (in Dutch – by Novem).

Although at the moment no exact numbers of the installed power in 2002 are known, a few things can be said. First of all, just as in 2001, a few large projects (as mentioned above) make a large contribution to the total installed power. On the other hand, since subsidies in the Netherlands are most profitable for the consumer market, small PV systems (< 600 Wp) have a large impact. The market for small PV systems was boosted even more by dedicated campaigns of municipalities, some of them offering extra subsidies. The most important parties in the consumer market are currently BeldeZon, Philips Solar and Stroomwerk, where smaller parties like Oskomera Solar Power Solutions and Buro Wilders still attract a vast number of clients. Informative links to lists of system suppliers are:

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Future Outlook

The market for PV in 2003 will continue to develop a focus on the consumer market. With the worldwide overcapacity of PV, a further drop in prices can be expected (in 2002, the prices dropped about 6 %) which makes PV power even more attractive considering the same subsidy level by the EPR.

Bringing the EPR under the responsibility of the Ministry of Housing offers new possibilities for making arrangements in the regulation for property developers. In 2003 these will be under consideration, which might lead to a solution for 2004. More importantly, making the Ministry of Housing responsible for the implementation of renewable energy options in houses could lead to a very consistent approach in making the housing stock more energy efficient. As an example, this department took the decision that from 2003 onwards no construction permits will be needed for smaller PV and solar thermal systems.

The lower price of PV, together with subsidies at the same level and easier procedures, will assist the consumer market in continuing growth. Moreover, the fact that the EPR has been successful for three years in a row will increase confidence in the regulation itself. This in turn may lead to new developments (e.g. financing schemes) that use the EPR efficiently for larger systems as well. It is therefore expected that systems of 1-3 kWp will increase in number.

For consumers, the main value of PV is seen “behind the electricity meter”, since private households pay the highest energy tariffs. Developing the consumer market will specifically ask attention for quality control, education and training and improvement of the supply chain. It is expected that activities in these fields will expand during 2003. It is expected that municipalities will continue to become more involved with campaigns for the use of solar energy.

The subsidy given by utilities is expected to end in October 2003. On the other hand, the introduction of the MEP combined with the liberalization of the energy market could generate interesting possibilities for the larger PV systems. Adding the green image of solar power to this, PV becomes an increasingly feasible option for commercial organizations.

The Renewable Energy programme 2003 will open in the second quarter of 2003. However, when looking at the results of 2002, it is not expected that many PV research projects will benefit from the subsidy scheme.

In conclusion, it can be expected that the PV market will be maturing in 2003, with the establishment of a professional branch organization and the growth of business-to-consumer sales.
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Further reading about the Netherlands

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