Home owners in three parts of Zeeland who have solar panels on their roofs are being paid money to turn them off, RTL reported on Friday.

Grid manager Stedin and supplier Eneco hope the move, a first for the Netherlands, will reduce pressure on the national grid during sunny periods.

There are so many solar panels in the districts of Tholen, Sint Philipsland and Schouwen-Duiveland that more electricity is being generated than can be used, and that is causing capacity problems, the power companies say. If the experiment is a success, it will be extended to other parts of the country.

“In the Netherlands we are working towards a new energy system,” Stedin’s technical chief David Peters told RTL Z. “That means finding a new balance between what nature gives us – sun and wind – and when we use electricity.”

Participants in the trial do so voluntarily and are paid for the power they would have generated plus a bonus. So far just 13 households have come forward, but Stedin hopes several hundred will eventually do so.

A third of Dutch households have rooftop solar panels.

Energy firms have also been attempting to reduce the amount of power households feed back into the system by charging fees for them to do so. The fees depend on a variety of factors but can run to tens of euros a month.