Netherlands Installed 1.33 GW Solar In 2018

• Annual report for 2018 solar PV capacity addition by Dutch New Energy Research says newly installed PV capacity  in the Netherlands was 1.33 GW, improving 46% over 853 MW in 2017
• Of this, 658 MW came online in H1/2018, and 672 was installed in the second half of the year
• Commercial business segment contributed 62% and residential 38% to annual additions
• Vietnamese solar products made up bulk of the installed capacity in 2018 with 27% market share, this was a drop from 40% in the previous year

The Netherlands installed a total of 1.33 GW new PV capacity in 2018, an uptick of 46% over the 853 MW added in the previous year, according to the National Solar Trend Report 2019 published by consultancy Dutch New Energy Research (see Netherlands Installed 853 MW PV In 2017).

However, the official statistics were much less for 2017 at 700 MW (see Netherlands' Cumulative PV Capacity Hits 2.7 GW). Nonetheless, 2018 was the first year when solar installations crossed the 1 GW mark since 2010.

The National Solar Trend Report 2019 says cumulative PV capacity of the country at the end of 2018 grew to 4.2 GW, from 2.9 GW at the end of 2017. This way it is closer to the estimates of Dutch solar news portal Polder PV's Peter Segaar who estimates that around 1.3 GW to 1.5 GW of new PV was installed in the country, taking the total to over 4 GW (see Netherlands Installed Over 1 GW PV In 2018).

This 4.2 GW led to generation of around 3.8 TWh of clean energy annually, or 3.3% of the total energy production of the Central European country.

The report says 658 MW was installed during H1/2018, and 672 MW in the second half. The residential sector accounted for 38% of annual capacity additions, but was overshadowed by the commercial segment that contributed to 62% of the installed capacity. The commercial segment also includes ground mounted solar systems. In 2017, residential and commercial segments added up to 49% and 51% to the total, respectively.

A total of 4.6 million new solar panels were installed in 2018 in comparison to 3.1 million in 2017. Even though solar panels imported from Vietnam made up the bulk of the installed capacity in 2018 with 27% market share, this was a drop from 40% in the previous year. In 2018, China was the second largest importer with 16% market share, followed by South Korea with 15%.

Among the largest single site solar power projects energized in the country in 2018 was the 54.5 MW Solarpark Scaldia (see 54.5 MW PV Project Comes Online In Netherlands). However, the largest projects yet to come online, but currently under construction, are the 109.9 MW Zonnepark Vlagtwedde and 103 MW Zonnepark Midden Groningen, both being built by Powerfield.

Solar power technology fared much better in the SDE+ 2017 round than in 2018, but the number of subsidy applications last year was exceptionally high, according to the authors of the report.

The report can be downloaded on the website of Solar Solutions.