The cabinet encourages the growth of sustainable energy in the Netherlands with a new opening of the Stimulation Regulation for Sustainable Energy Production and Climate Transition (SDE++). The scheme starts on October 7 this year. A budget of 8 billion euros is available.

We are producing more and more sustainable energy in the Netherlands. This is important for the Netherlands to become less dependent on fossil fuels and for the green economy of the future. The government wants to provide companies with the SDE regulation certainty to invest in sustainable (energy) projects.

The regulation stimulates sustainable energy projects such as solar energy, green gas, and geothermal energy. It also includes investments to make production more sustainable and to replace fossil fuels, for example with industrial heat pumps or electric boilers with heat storage.

Many projects are supported by the SDE. In 2023, 1,600 different projects received approval. The regulation acts as a guarantee and only reimburses the potential non-viable top. If the market price (for example for electricity) rises, the subsidy decreases.

Projects that put less pressure on the full power grid, such as electric boilers that produce heat outside peak hours on the power grid, will be stimulated extra from this year. For this reason, vertical solar panels are also included in the regulation. They generate electricity more evenly throughout the day and thus cause less peaks.

The cabinet reserves a fixed amount with so-called fences again for technologies that are important for the energy transition but still have a higher non-viable top, such as renewable fuels.

The opening round will take place in five phases. Projects with a lower subsidy per ton of avoided CO₂ can submit earlier and thus come into consideration sooner. The first phase starts on October 7. More information about the SDE regulation can be found on the RVO website.