Netherlands allocates €100 million for battery storage subsidies

The authorities in the Netherlands have allocated €100 million in subsidies to the deployment of battery storage with solar projects for next year, as the country continues to struggle with a lack of power flexibility and grid limitations.

Departing minister for climate and energy policy, Rob Jetten, announced the subsidy package as part of the nation’s “Multi-Year Program Climate Fund 2025,” while presenting the Spring Memorandum 2024 this week. It contains projects that the government intends to support in the years to come.

The scheme is scheduled to open on Jan. 1, 2025, and end in 2034.

The funding is part of a €416 million subsidy program that was announced last year. The Dutch government said it would allocate the funds from the climate package issued in 2022, with the subsidies to facilitate the deployment of 160 MW to 330 MW of battery storage.

In another move to alleviate congestion, Dutch grid operator TenneT has proposed a new contract form with lower transport rates for batteries and other flexible capacity, with potential discounts of up to 65%.

This would make it easier to connect batteries to the Dutch electricity grid. In return, battery operators would be requested to help the grid operator to limit congestion on the electricity grid by charging and discharging when needed.

The new rate is expected this spring. According to research commissioned by TenneT, the introduction of the discount could lead to 2 GW to 5 GW of new battery power in 2030.

According to the latest estimates, more than 25% of rooftops in the Netherlands have solar panels, accounting for the lion’s share of the country’s 20 GW-plus solar fleet. As of June 2022, the country had a cumulative installed PV capacity of 16.5 GW, with 3,803 MW added in 2021 and 3,882 MW deployed in 2022, according to the nation’s statistics agency, CBS.

In February 2024, after a year of discussions and negotiations, the Dutch parliament decided to maintain the country’s net-metering scheme. The phasing out of the program was designed to support the country’s distributed storage market.