Netherlands earmarks €100 mn as incentives for battery storage deployment

The Dutch government recently announced €100 million in subsidies for the development and integration of battery storage in solar PV projects covering about 160-330 MW for 2025, in response to emerging challenges related to grid constraints and renewable integration in the country. 

The announcement is seen as one of the last and significant moves by the departing government. The outgoing Minister for climate and energy policy Rob Jetten made the announcement as part of the national government's "Multi-Year Program Climate Fund 2025" last week. 

The latest subsidy allocation is part of the larger €416 million package announced last year for PV co-located battery energy storage system (BESS) starting next year for a period of ten years. The scheme is set to open on the 1st of January, 2025. 

Moreover, the government has also reserved €200 million for the year 2026, thereby taking the deployment of the package funds in the first two years to a whooping seven times more than what was initially planned. 

According to media reports, for every kWh of energy released into the electricity market during peak demand hours, right when there is usually a dearth of renewable energy generation, the scheme provides for incentives, with an initial estimate of €0.14-29 per kWh of energy discharged. 

The scheme is technology and size agnostic, and includes BESS co-located with rooftop solar PV as well as grid-scale facilities of different sizes. In Netherlands, a latest estimate suggests that more than one-fourth of all rooftops in the country are equipped with solar panels. The country's cumulative solar capacity is said to have exceeded 20 GW this year.