The Netherlands is mulling local manufacturing of solar panels, batteries and electrolyzers to reduce its dependence on other countries for these essential requirements of a climate-neutral economy.
It has now opened a call seeking consultation for a new subsidy scheme for entrepreneurs with interest in these fields. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) is seeking stakeholder views on the new Manufacturing Industry Investment Subsidy Climate Neutral Economy (IMKE) to support Dutch manufacturing companies in these 3 sectors.
RVO explains that it aims to collect information about the conditions of the subsidy, the duration and the amount, through this consultation.
For solar PV, subsidies will be offered for the production of building integrated PV (BIPV), vehicle integrated PV (VIPV) solar panels, using heterojunction, perovskite or tandem solar cells.
To be eligible for state support, these panels should be lightweight or flexible and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) free.
For solar panel production, the government plans to offer a maximum subsidy amount of €70 million/company. For battery production, the limit is €20 million/company and for electrolyzers, it is proposed to be €50 million/company.
Citing the example of its European counterparts like Germany and France, and even those outside the European Union (EU) that are investing in manufacturing of these components, RVO says Netherlands needs to step up as well.
"If the Netherlands does not take over the production of these parts, its strategic dependence on other countries will increase. Setting up your own production can reduce this dependence," it says.
The RVO adds, "As global demand for the components needed to produce solar energy, hydrogen and batteries increases, those products are likely to become more expensive and scarce. This causes a delay in achieving a climate-neutral economy."
The consultation was opened on February 8, 2024. The last date for submissions is March 3, 2024. Details are available on the government's website.
In July 2023, the Dutch company MCPV announced plans for a 3 GW silicon HJT cell production in the country, backed by state funding from the €4 billion National Growth Fund (see High Efficiency Solar Cell Fab For The Netherlands).
Recently, the Dutch Parliament rejected the Climate Ministry's proposal to phase out the net metering scheme which has not gone down well with the local industry association Holland Solar (see Netherlands To Stay Put With Solar Net Metering).