The past three months were very sunny and at times windy, resulting in more renewable energy being generated than the year before. However, due to a lack of storage space, a lot of electricity is being wasted.
On June 21, the sun provided a record amount of solar power, according to figures from Energieopwek.nl, which tracks electricity production. The supply was much greater than the demand, causing both solar panels and wind turbines to be switched off.
If the demand for electricity is lower than the supply, energy producers sometimes have to pay to get their energy onto the grid. In the first half of 2025, this was the case in one out of ten hours, much more than in 2024.
In addition, there is not always space on the full Dutch electricity grid. So on sunny and windy days, it happens more and more often that solar panels and wind turbines are switched off.
In April, June, and July, there was more sun and wind than in the same period a year earlier. Energieopwek.nl has calculated that almost 800,000 households could have been supplied with electricity for a year if the solar panels and wind turbines had remained on.
Hydrogen plant can store electricity
“At certain times we generate so much electricity, but we throw it away,” says a spokesperson for Energieopwek.nl. “That cannot be the intention.” Storage space and a larger electricity grid are needed to store electricity.
Energy can be stored by converting it into hydrogen. “This green hydrogen can be used as a raw material in the industrial sector or as seasonal storage of electricity,” says the spokesperson.
But there are too few electrolysers that can do this. According to the spokesperson, this is because it is not yet financially attractive. There must also be sufficient space on the electricity grid to bring the energy to a hydrogen plant.