Dutch renewable energy production rises
Production of electricity from renewable sources in the Netherlands grew by nearly 10 percent in 2011, Statistics Netherlands reports.
Total electricity production in the Netherlands amounted to 113 billion kWh in 2011. This is 4 percent less than in the previous year according to figures released by Statistics Netherlands. In the four preceding years, electricity production had risen each year.
Just over 5 billion kWh less electricity was produced in 2011 than in 2010. This decrease was mainly accounted for by power stations generating electricity from fossil fuels and supplying it to the national grid. Overall, power stations produced 7 percent less electricity. This decrease was caused by higher fuel prices combined with a larger supply of both domestic renewable electricity and electricity from abroad. Total energy consumption increased slightly in 2011.
Fossil fuel input was also lower in the so-called decentral production of electricity, i.e. production of electricity supplied to regional networks or used by the energy producing companies themselves. The total decentral production of electricity remained at the same level, however, as a result of production of electricity from wind.
Higher production of renewable electricity
The production of renewable electricity rose by nearly 10 percent in 2011. This increase was caused completely by electricity generated from wind. The amount of wind electricity rose by more than a quarter in 2011. Alongside wind, biomass is the main source of renewable electricity in the Netherlands. The amount of electricity generated from biomass was about the same in 2011 as in 2010.
Less and less electricity from coal
The share of electricity generated from fossil fuels fell from 90.5 to 82.5 percent between 1998 and 2011. This decrease was mainly the result of a decrease in the amount of electricity produced from coal; the share of this electricity decreased from 28 percent in 1998 to 18 percent in 2011. The share of electricity produced from natural gas remained fairly stable, at around 60 percent.
More at The Dutch Daily News