In 2023, the growth in the installed capacity of solar panels in the Netherlands slowed for the second consecutive year, yet the total capacity still increased by over 22%, reaching 23.9 gigawatts by the end of the year.
This marks a significant rise from 0.363 gigawatts in 2013, indicating nearly a 40-fold increase over a decade, new data from the Dutch statistics body, CBS, found.
In terms of year-on-year growth, 2013 saw a net new installed capacity of 0.363 gigawatts, which slightly decreased to 0.358 gigawatts in 2014. Growth picked up in 2015 with 0.519 gigawatts and continued to rise to 0.609 gigawatts in 2016 and 0.776 gigawatts in 2017. The years 2018 and 2019 saw even larger increases with 1.698 and 2.617 gigawatts, respectively.
The trend peaked in 2020 with 3.883 gigawatts but slightly dropped to 3.714 gigawatts in 2021. The provisional figures for 2022 and 2023 show net new installed capacities of 4.777 and 4.344 gigawatts, respectively.
Solar panels on homes and businesses
Breaking down the installed capacity between homes and business premises, solar panels on homes contributed approximately 10.1 gigawatts in 2023, up from 8 gigawatts in 2022, marking a 25% increase. Homes accounted for just over 42% of the total installed capacity.
Businesses, on the other hand, provided the remaining 58% of the capacity, with their installed photovoltaic capacity increasing by nearly 20% compared to 2022.
Over the years, the installed capacity for businesses and homes has shown steady growth. In 2013, companies had an installed capacity of 0.219 gigawatts, while homes had 0.431 gigawatts. By 2023, these figures had risen to 13.837 gigawatts for companies and 10.106 gigawatts for homes. This reflects the broader trend of increasing solar power adoption across both sectors.
In 2023, the total installed capacity was spread across 2.8 million installations, with more than 2.5 million being in homes. The average power of solar installations on homes was about 4,000 watts, whereas installations on companies averaged 61,000 watts.
Electricity production
The production of electricity from solar panels has also seen significant growth. In 2023, solar panels produced nearly 20,000 gigawatt hours of electricity, accounting for almost 17% of the total net electricity production in the Netherlands. This is a considerable increase from the 11.3 thousand gigawatt hours produced in 2021, CBS said.
The distribution of installed solar capacity varies by municipality, with an average of 0.71 megawatts per square kilometre across the Netherlands.
On a regional basis, Zwijndrecht, in the west of the country, stands out with more than 5 megawatts per square kilometre, leading the way in solar panel density. Nearly 40% of municipalities had an installed capacity exceeding 1 megawatt per square kilometre.
