Dutch Gov’t Bringing Subsidy Scheme Back to Offshore Wind, But Only Temporarily – Reports

The Dutch government will announce the return of subsidies for offshore wind this afternoon (16 September), during Budget Day, national media reports.

According to news from the Netherlands, the government will earmark around EUR 1 billion to support offshore wind next year. The revived subsidy scheme – which was not employed over the past few years as developers were competing for sites without requiring state aid – will serve as a temporary measure, as the government is working on introducing the Contracts for Difference (CfD) model in the future.

While the cost of building offshore wind farms has increased by 30 to 40 per cent in recent years, the electricity demand continues to increase as well, and the Dutch government sees wind turbines at sea as the only way to generate large amounts of green energy in the short term, according to the Dutch media outlet NOS.

De Telegraaf writes that, together with the EUR 1 billion in subsidies intended to help in the short term, the cabinet will also present an action plan with measures to make building offshore wind farms attractive in the long term. The plan revolves around a CfD scheme, such as that the UK is employing, on which the Dutch Climate Ministry has been working lately.

Since a legislative amendment is required to implement a CfD model, the Ministry will prepare it and, depending on how quickly the process moves forward, introduce the CfDs in 2027.

Earlier this year, the government delayed tenders for two 1 GW offshore wind farms, IJmuiden Ver Gamma-A and IJmuiden Ver Gamma-B, which had been planned to be auctioned off in the third quarter of this year, citing deteriorating market conditions and decreased demand for electricity.

The tender that is still planned for this year is for the 1 GW Nederwiek I-A site, located 95 kilometres from the west coast of Texel, which is scheduled to be launched on 16 October.

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