The green economy is thriving despite the financial crisis, reports Thursday’s Telegraaf.

Companies are profiting from subsidies, political ambitions for the environment and the growing interest in sustainable solutions, the paper quotes insiders as saying.
Companies involved in solar energy have had a good year, according to Joke Wessels of the sector organisation Holland Solar. ‘They have profited from a subsidy which started on April 1 and from a subsidy on solar energy boilers,’ she told the paper. But she points out that the period before 2008 were lean years with the sector waiting for the introduction of new regulations.
Sustainable energy companies are also seeing an increase in business, sector spokesman Monique an Eijkelenburg told the paper. ‘A number of building firms are profiting from the interest in underground energy storage and from water pumps for sustainable energy for housing estates and small companies,’ she said.
But Alex Oostvogel of the Zeeland windmill firm EWT told the Telegraaf that although the political desire to reduce CO2 is keeping growth in wind parks stable, the reluctance of banks to lend money is making them difficult to finance.