Renewable energy use, 1990-2024

Strong increase in renewable electricity production by wind and solar

Renewable electricity consumption increased by 12 percent in 2024 and accounted for 50 percent of the total electricity consumption (CBS, 2025b). This increase is largely driven by an increase in solar and wind power generation capacity. At 54 percent, wind is the largest contributor to renewable electricity generation, followed by solar power (36 percent) and biomass (11 percent). 

Normalized electricity production from wind showed a 20 percent increase in 2024. The main reason for this increase is the increase in installed capacity of wind turbines, mainly offshore. The total capacity of wind turbines went from 10,734 megawatts at the end of 2023 to 11,712 megawatts at the end of 2024. For more information see indicator Wind energy capacity.
The total capacity of solar panels increased by 19 percent to 25,383 megawatts. This produced 21.3 billion kWh of solar power in 2024. Electricity production from biomass declined by 10 percent in 2024, mainly due to a decrease in co-firing of biomass in coal-fired power plants. 

Increase in renewable heat and cooling

Renewable energy consumption for heating and cooling increased by 9 percent to 100 petajoules in 2024. The main reason is the increase in heat production using biodiesel, which has more than doubled since 2023. Aerothermal heat and both shallow and deep geothermal energy also showed an increase in 2024. The use of biomass for co-firing decreased with 28 percent in 2024. 

Biofuel consumption increased

Biofuel consumption increased from 27 petajoules in 2023 to 42 petajoules in 2024 (CBS, 2025a). The share of renewable energy for transport increased to over 20 percent. The main reason for the increase in the share of renewable energy for transport is the increase in the use of biodiesel. The increase in the share of advanced biofuels and the consumption of renewable electricity for transport also contributed to the growth in 2024.

Policy objective

The next target for the Netherlands in an EU context is 39 percent renewable energy in 2030 (European Commission, 2023) as the Dutch contribution to the binding EU-wide target of 42.5 percent renewable energy in 2030 (EU, 2023). In addition to a target for total renewable energy, there are also binding agreements on increasing the share of renewable heat for all EU member states. In the period 2021-2025, an annual growth of 0.8 percentage points must take place. For the period 2025-2030, this is 1.1 percentage point growth per year. 

Avoiding the use of fossil fuels and CO2 emissions

An important aspect of the application of renewable energy sources is to reduce the use of fossil fuels and CO₂ emissions. The link below provides a time series from the StatLine database (CBS, 2025c) regarding the “reduction of fossil fuels” and the “reduction of CO₂ emissions” as a result of the use of renewable energy sources and a breakdown by renewable energy source / technology. 

European data

Figures on the share of renewable energy in other European countries can be accessed at Eurostat (2025a,b) and EurObserv’ER (2025).