The Netherlands: Solar park taking shape along 40 km of road in the Netherlands – by Emiliano Bellini

The Dutch water management agency plans to install solar panels along both sides of the A37 highway in Drenthe province, as well as on the median strip, to cover 300 hectares in total. The project is part of a plan to build projects on state land, as the domestic PV industry continues to search for alternative surfaces on which to deploy solar.

The agency is now holding meetings with the Drenthe provincial government and the municipalities of Coevorden, Emmen, and Hoogeveen – as well as network operator Enexis Groep and distribution system operator Rendo – to discuss how the solar park will be developed.

The project, which is part of a government program to build renewable energy pilot projects on state land, will involve the installation of PV modules along either side of a 40-kilometer (25 miles) stretch of the highway, in addition to solar panels on the median strip between the two lanes. The project will span roughly 300 hectares in total, and will be built without having a strong visual impact on the surrounding landscape, Rijkswaterstaat explained. The agency conducted a preliminary spatial exploration study for the project in 2016.

Read more: Solar park taking shape along 40 km of road in the Netherlands – pv magazine International

 

 

 

 

EU Renewable Energy: The Netherlands still trailing behind on EU renewable energy targets

The Netherlands is trailing the rest of Europe when it comes to reaching sustainable energy targets, according to new figures from the European statistics agency Eurostat.

In 2017, just 6.6% of the energy used in the Netherlands came from sustainable sources, but the target is 14% by 2020, Eurostat says. Luxembourg, where 6.4% of energy consumption derived from biofuels, hydro or wind power, solar or geothermal energy in 2017, has a 2020 target of 11%.

The Eurostat statistics show 11 EU countries had already reached their targets two years ago. In Sweden, for example, more than half the energy is sustainable.

The EU as a whole aims to make sure 20% of gross final energy consumption comes from renewable sources by 2020

Read more at: The Netherlands still trailing behind on EU renewable energy targets - DutchNews.nl

EU Policy Renewable Energy: opening markets for corporate renewable energy buyers

RE100 is a global collaborative initiative bringing together 102 influential and multinational businesses that are committed to sourcing 100% renewable electricity globally. Together, they represent demand for over 146 terawatt hours of renewable electricity annually – about enough to power Poland.

These companies have made this highest-level commitment because they know that renewable electricity makes long-term business sense. The technology is ready, unsubsidized costs are competitive, and companies are ready to invest at scale.

Corporate sourcing of renewables represents a major new flow of capital and finance into Europe’s renewable electricity infrastructure. Much of the electricity used by our members in Europe is already from renewable sources, and they are leading the way through a combination of power purchase agreements (PPAs), on-site generation, green contracts and certificates.

IKEA Group, a founding member of RE100, owns more wind turbines than stores and is aiming to produce as much energy as it consumes by the end of the decade. The company has also invested an impressive $1.78 billion (€1.5 billion) in purchasing its own wind and solar power generation equipment since 2009 and in FY15 committed a further $715 billion (€600 million).

Last year, Mars, Inc. signed a PPA for a wind farm in Scotland to power its entire UK operations. Meanwhile, RE100 members Royal DSM, Google, Royal Philips and AkzoNobel joined forces to sign an exciting joint PPA for 350 gigawatt hours per year in the Netherlands.

RE100’s 102 members are:

AB InBev	Equinix	Philips Lighting
Adobe	Facebook	Procter & Gamble
AkzoNobel	Formula-E	Proximus
Alstria	Gatwick Airport	Rackspace
Amalgamated Bank	General Motors	RELX Group
Apple	Givaudan	Ricoh
AstraZeneca	Goldman Sachs	Royal Philips
Autodesk	Google	Salesforce
Aviva	H&M	SAP
AXA	Heathrow Airport	SAVE S.p.A. Group
Bank of America	Helvetia	SGS
Bankia	HP Enterprise	Sky
Biogen	HP Inc.	Starbucks
Bloomberg	IFF	Steelcase
BMW Group	IHS Markit	Swiss Post
British Land	IKEA	Swiss Re
Broad Group	Infosys	Tata Motors
BT Group	ING	TD Bank
Burberry	Interface	Telefonica
Caixa Bank	J&J	Tesco
Carlsberg	J. Safra Sarasin AG	Tetra Pak
Coca-Cola European Partners	Kingspan	UBS
Colruyt Group	KPN	Unilever
Commerzbank AG	La Poste	Vail Resorts
Corbion	Landsec	Vaisala
Credit Agricole	LEGO	VF Corporation
Dalmia Bharat Cement	L’Occitane	VMWare
Danske Bank	Marks & Spencer	Voya Financial
Dentsu Aegis Network	Mars	Walmart
Diageo	Microsoft	Wells Fargo
DNB	Nestlé	Workday
DSM	Nike	YOOX
Ebay	Nordea
Elion	Novonordisk
Elopak	Pearson

For additional info – or to join the campaign – contact:

info@re100.org

Read more: EU policy: opening markets for corporate renewable energy buyers | The Climate Gr

EU Renewable Energy: Share of renewables in energy consumption in the EU rose further to 16 % in 2014

In 2014, the share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy reached 16.0%  in the European Union  (EU). Almost double that of 2004(8.5%), the first year for which the datais available.

The share of renewables in gross final consumption of energy is one of the headline indicators of the Europe 2020 strategy. The target to be reached by 2020 for the EU is a share of 20% energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy.

However, renewables will continue to play a key role in helping the  EU meet its energy needs beyond 2020. For this reason, Member States have already agreedon a new EU renewable energy target of at least 27% by 2030..

Almere Digest