Wind Power News: Netherlands
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They are the products of the organizations or individuals noted and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch.
Offshore wind farms add to woes of Dutch fishing fleet
Plans to extend the number Dutch offshore wind farms are adding to the problems faced by the Dutch North Sea fishing fleet, said the Financieele Dagblad on Monday. Proposals presented last Friday call for offshore wind farm capacity of 4,450 megawatts to be added until 2031, with capacity hiked to 10,000 megawatts by 2030. The wind farms would cover several thousand square kilometres in the North Sea. But with the major shipping lanes, large nature reserves, sand-mining areas and other . . .
Raids, arrests in €8 million wind energy fraud case
Three people were arrested and various homes and office buildings were raided on Tuesday in an investigation into 8 million euros worth of fraud committed by Dutch investment company Hollandsche Wind. The Public Prosecutor and tax investigative service FIOD also seized several cars, Tubantia reports. According to FIOD, the now bankrupt Hollandsche Wind was used to commit Ponsi fraud – an illegal pyramid scheme. Investors paid a minimum of 5 thousand euros and were promised high returns on wind energy . . .
Lack of wind, low electricity prices hit wind turbine owners
A lack of wind and low electricity prices hit wind turbine owners hard last year, according to new figures from wind power cooperative Windunie. In total, the amount of electricity generated by wind power fell by 20% last year, Windunie said. ‘It’s a risk,’ director Axel Posthumus, told the Volkskrant. ‘You have bad years. However, the low energy prices (down to 2004 levels) have delivered a second blow.’ Some of the 400 turbine owners in the cooperative actually made a . . .
Dutch to stop subsidizing renewables in long-term climate strategy
The Netherlands will gradually phase out subsidizes for renewable energy and shift its climate change strategy to areas such as energy saving and carbon capture, the government said on Wednesday. A week ago, the Netherlands announced a 33 percent increase in subsidies for solar, wind, geothermal and other projects to 12 billion euros ($12.9 billion) in 2017, from 9 billion euros in 2016, as it struggles to reach 2020 targets. But the “Energy Agenda” published by the Economic Affairs ministry . . .
Windmills are great if they are somewhere else, say homeowners
Most people who live near a planned wind farm support windmills – just not in their own back yard, according to a survey for the Dutch association of homeowners. The Volkskrant reports on Wednesday that in a poll of Eigen Huis members, only 11% of respondents who lived near a proposed windfarm were positive about it. New sites are planned in Ijsselmeer, the Drenthe peatlands, South Holland and Zeeland. The organisation surveyed 3,660 of its members living within two kilometres . . .
Wind turbine development threatens space research
A plan to build fifty giant wind turbines in the province of Drenthe may interfere with the operation of a radio telescope and do ‘disastrous’ damage to scientific research, according to the Dutch Institute for Radio Astronomy (Astron). Astronomers claim that the placement of the 200 metre high windmills will interfere with the low-frequency array (Lofar) which uses thousands of low-frequency antennae to survey the universe. Because of their height, the windmills reflect other radio and television signals towards the . . .
Radio astronomers to sue Drenthe over “disastrous” windmill plan
The Dutch institute for radio astronomy Astron is threatening a 100 million euro damage claim against a group of farmers planning to build windmills in Veenkolonien, Drenthe. According to Astron, the windmills will be “disastrous” for their research into the origins of the universe, Trouw reports. The plan is to place fifty 200 meter high windmills in eastern Drenthe. Minister Henk Kamp of Economic Affairs is expected to make a final decision on whether or not to go through with . . .
Hundreds of Dutch green energy windmills operating at a loss
Hundreds of wind turbines in the Netherlands are operating at a loss and are in danger of being demolished. The main cause is the very low energy prices, which mean that the maintaining the turbines cost more than what the generated energy bring in, the Financieele Dagblad reports based on own research. Subsidies for generating wind energy are in many cases no longer cost-effective. Smaller, older windmills in particular are running at a loss, but even newer mills are struggling . . .
Dutch government paid €3.2m in subsidies to illegal wind turbine owner
The Dutch state paid €3.2m in grants to the owner of an illegally-placed wind turbine in Noord-Holland province, the Volkskrant reports on Wednesday. Files obtained by locals using freedom of information legislation show the government has refused to claw back the subsidies even though the owner broke planning regulations. The owner installed a more powerful turbine than mentioned in the licence and placed it at a different location, the paper says. The government went on to subsidise it for eight . . .
Coastal cities lobbying against windmills
The Dutch coastal municipalities of Zandvoort Katwijk, Wassennaar and Noordwijk are lobbying against offshore windmills off the coast of Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland. They are doing so by subsidizing action group Stichting Vrije Horizon, or Foundation Free Horizon in English, the Volkskrant reports. The municipalities are concerned about the effect the windmills will have on tourism by ruining the view. With the subsidy they want to make residents aware of the possible “fencing effect” the windmills will have on the horizon, . . .
