The Netherlands has selected 3,486 projects under its SDE++ 2020 round — the 1st in the SDE++ scheme — awarding close to €4.7 billion to the winners in preliminary results declared by the Dutch Enterprise Agency or Rijkdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (RVO). This capacity represents 4.406 GW total capacity.
Solar PV was the largest winner with 3,426 projects of the total representing 3.535 GW capacity, divided between 1.803 GW of rooftop solar projects (97% of the winning solar projects), and 1.732 GW of ground mounted or floating solar facilities.
The remaining projects were won by other technologies including wind energy with 107 MW. Overall, for SDE++ 2020 RVO received 4,112 applications for a total budget of €6.4 billion.
SDE++ is a successor of the Stimulation of Sustainable Energy Production and Climate Transition (SDE+) subsidy scheme of the Dutch government, awarded to companies and non-profit institutions that invest in renewable energy or – and that's the addition – carbon reduction techniques. Winners of the various rounds are awarded subsidies over a period of 12 to 15 years. For solar PV, there are 6 categories to apply under, starting with 15 kW capacity and 1 MW capacities.
The next round to follow is SDE++ 2021 with a €5 billion budget. For this round, originally applications were to be accepted between September 21, 2021 to October 14, 2021. But dates have been changed since RVO said provinces and municipalities have indicated that with this opening period, there is pressure on the granting of permits for many wind and solar projects. Hence, the application period has been delayed to October 5, 2021 to November 11, 2021.
In the last round of SDE+ scheme called SDE+Spring 2020, RVO awarded 6,882 solar PV projects representing 3.44 GW capacity out of 7,012 projects accounting for 3.911 GW capacity (see 3.44 GW PV Selected For Dutch SDE+Spring 2020 Round).