The Dutch government has proposed draft rules on onshore wind planning, which if passed would fill a legal vacuum that has existed since 2021.
The rules propose a distance standard under which new onshore turbines will have to be twice as far from homes as the peak height of the blade tips. Authorities will have to take this standard into account, rather than apply it across the board, which will allow for flexibility to balance interests, the government said.
The Netherlands has no national planning rules on onshore turbines at present, after a court struck down previous regulations in 2021. Since then, some developers have delayed construction plans, while others have opted to follow local regulations, which would be superseded by the national regulation.
The proposed distance standard does not apply to repowering of existing projects, nor to housing which has been planned but not yet built.
Dutch net onshore wind additions peaked in 2021 at 998MW, according to data from statistics body CBS. They have since declined every year, and government business agency the Netherlands Enterprise Agency predicts onshore wind capacity could shrink this year, although a larger pipeline of projects in the earlier stages of planning could mean the fleet returns to growth in the following years.
Wind sector industry association NedZero welcomed the planning measure, saying "the sector finally knows where it stands" after five years. But it called for the standard to apply to population centres, rather than individual homes, saying using the latter standard would mean space for turbines is "severely limited". And the body called for more targeted exceptions to the regulations to allow development in industrial areas and ports.
