Renewable electricity share up by 20 percent in 2022

In 2022, electricity production remained unchanged compared to the previous year. Production from renewable sources rose by 20 percent to 47 billion kWh. Solar power production increased by 54 percent, while wind power production was up by 17 percent. This was largely related to increased capacity (solar +4 GW, wind +1 GW) and more favourable weather conditions. Electricity production from biomass and hydropower declined.

Less electricity produced from natural gas

In 2022, electricity production from fossil sources fell by 11 percent year on year, to 67 billion kWh. Production from natural gas declined by 16 percent to 47 billion kWh, partly due to high natural gas prices.

At 16 billion kWh, production from coal remained the same compared to the previous year. What played a role is that a cap on production by coal-fired power stations has been lifted since June 2022.

More imports from the UK, fewer from Germany and Norway

Electricity imports in 2022 decreased by 11 percent to 19 billion kWh, while exports increased by 11 percent to 23 billion kWh. This means the Netherlands was a net exporter again, contrary to the previous year when there was a small positive import balance.

Imports from Norway dropped (by 49 percent), partly because less electricity was generated from hydropower there. The import from Germany declined as well (by 23 percent), as a result of lower nuclear production. Imports from the United Kingdom, on the other hand, showed an increase due to higher production from wind power.

France exported less electricity to Belgium and Germany, partly due to long-term maintenance conducted at French nuclear power plants. As a result, these countries were forced to import some of their electricity from elsewhere, partly because domestic production from nuclear sources had declined. This was one the factors that caused electricity exports from the Netherlands to Belgium and Germany to rise.