According to subsidy consultants and project developers, large-scale solar farms in the Netherlands are being built by companies from Britain, China, Germany, and Scandinavia.
The foreign (non-Dutch) solar panel park developers were reportedly paying attention to the Netherlands somewhat due to substantial subsidies for the projects. Also, billions of Euros were available for projects every year.
Douwe Faber of consultancy Ekwadraat stated that more than a third of the funds were available in subsidies for solar power farms that went to non-Dutch companies. He added that the Netherlands had waited too long to develop its solar power strategy. Little expertise was developed in the building of solar farms in the Netherlands.
In 2017, Benedikt Ortmann spoke at The Solar Future NL, the leading Dutch PV conference. He stated that because the Netherlands had a strong economy, political stability, and the euro as a currency, it made it attractive for everybody to enter the Dutch market.
Meanwhile, it is reported that Norway’s Statskraft was developing a 17-hectare solar farm in Emmen among the foreign-owned projects that were currently underway. Apart from this, China’s Unisun built the first Dutch solar energy farm in Rilland, Zeeland province. The Danish investor in sustainable energy has also announced plans to invest around €100m a year in November, to develop solar energy projects in the Netherlands for the next few years. It is said that all these projects were eligible for subsidies to the tune of €100m.
