More than 10,000 Dutch businesses—as well as hospitals, fire stations, and thousands of new houses—are waiting for electricity network connections, and in some cases will have to continue waiting until the mid-2030s.
The country has taken a rapid turn to ‘renewable’ energy in recent years, with millions of homes now having solar panels on their roofs, while shifting away from more reliable sources, especially gas. This zealous drive towards net zero is proving incompatible with rapid electrification increases, and has forced network operators to ration power.
Energy consultant Zsuzsanna Pató told the Financial Times that this should “definitely” serve as a warning for other European countries which are moving forward—or, more suitably, backwards—with the green agenda. The paper cited other analysts as saying that electricity rationing in the Netherlands is “a harbinger of what is likely to occur in other EU countries,” and that
The country [like many others across Europe] had been so used to relying on its gas resources that power grid upgrades had not kept pace.
It also quoted Eefje van Gorp, spokesman for the Netherlands’ national power grid operator (Tennet), who said that Belgium and Britain especially are in “in trouble,” as well as Germany, “because in Germany all the wind is in the north and the demand is in the south.”
Writer Michael A. Arouet added that “this is what happens when dogmatic green ideology beats common sense.”
This warning is, however, going unnoticed among many of Europe’s leading leftist groups. In Sweden, Left Party MEP Jonas Sjöstedt wrote last week in Expressen that officials should take notes on climate control from Spain, despite the role of net zero in April’s Iberian blackout. The paper’s editorial team has since written a scathing response, suggesting that Sjöstedt may have got “sunstroke” in Spain.
Officials are responding to the issue in the Netherlands, as usual, by tinkering around the edges—for example, by asking consumers to charge their electric bikes and cars outside of peak times.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
