Dutch wind power policy : Stagnating implementation of renewables

Since 1985 the official goal for wind power development in the Netherlands is 1000 MW by the year 2000. About 200 MW had been installed in 1995 and in 2000 only about 300 MW appears to be feasible, which is far behind the official goal. Essential government choices that have made policy less effective are relying on large-scale application by utilities, stimulating capacity instead of energy yield, entanglement of energy policy and industrial policy and most of all aloofness in the process of obtaining sites. There was no programme on making sites available and there were no instruments to stimulate crucial actors in the process of decision making of sites. This started a vicious circle: economic feasibility has not been reached, because there is no mass production of turbines, which in turn is a result of the lack of available sites.