EU plan could raise green energy prices

A proposal by the European Parliament to tighten up the production of green power could lead to significantly higher electricity prices in the Netherlands, reports Wednesday’s Volkskrant.

At present countries are allowed to book the production of renewable energy onto their national targets for green energy even if the power is exported.
This means cheap green power from, say Scandinavia where there is an abundance of hydro-electric power, can be imported into the Netherlands. Almost all the green power used in Holland is imported.
On Tuesday, Dutch member of the European parliament Dorette Corby said imported green power is ‘fake’ – pointing out that it does not lead to new renewable power production in the Netherlands.
The European Parliament now wants only the electricity generated and consumed within a country to count towards its green power target.
The paper points out that around 2.5 million Dutch people currently buy green power and that if the EP proposal is accepted, most energy suppliers will be unable to meet demand. This will push up prices.
Dutch energy sector organisation EnergieNed points out that the green power that is exported is only included once in renewable energy targets, reports the paper. There is no question of double booking and most of the green power is covered by the European certification system, it says.