Unless the Netherlands increases its investment in sustainable energy, the country will fail to meet targets on green power production, according to a report by Rabobank, quoted in Monday’s Volkskrant.

In 2011, just 4% of Dutch energy was produced from sustainable sources and without a new strategy, that will rise to just 9% by 2020. The EU target is 14%.
‘The greening of Dutch energy production has stood still for years,’ Rabobank analyst Clara van der Elst told the paper. ‘Thanks to the household waste imported from Naples, we went up to 4% last year.’
The report – An Outlook for Renewable Energy in the Netherlands’ – also criticises government policy for being ineffective, partly because it is altered every year.
Costs
‘The industry needs a long-term vision,’ she said. ‘Companies which invest in ships to place wind turbines [at sea] need to know they will recover their costs.’
RWE chief Peter Terium said in Saturday’s AD that the shift towards green energy could lead to poorer households struggling to pay their bills.
Van der Elst criticised that position, saying the German energy giant is focusing on biomass as a source of green power. ‘Biomass will not become cheaper, but sun and wind power will,’ she said.