Electricity Production and Export at Record Levels
Statistics Netherlands | CBS
Source published: 9 March 26
Electricity Production and Export at Record Levels
In 2025, electricity production and export in the Netherlands reached a historic high, driven by increases in solar energy and fossil fuels.
In 2025, energy companies and other producers generated 132 billion kWh of electricity. This was an all-time high. After years of decline, production from fossil sources increased again. More electricity was also produced from solar energy. Electricity export also reached a peak. This is reported by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) based on new figures.
Electricity production has increased significantly over the past ten years. In 2025, energy companies and other producers, such as operators of wind and solar parks and households with solar panels, produced a quarter more electricity than in 2015. This increase is mainly due to higher demand from abroad. As a result, more electricity was exported and less imported. Additionally, Dutch electricity demand was increasingly met by domestic production. Total electricity consumption in the Netherlands barely increased.
Renewable
Nuclear + Other
billion kWh
* provisional figures
Increasing Production from Solar Energy
Production from solar energy increased by 17 percent compared to 2024. This was mainly because 2025 was a very sunny year. The total capacity of solar panels was also higher (4 percent). The amount of electricity produced from solar energy has grown more than twentyfold in ten years.
Less electricity was produced from onshore wind energy. The main reason is less favorable wind conditions on land. At the end of 2025, the total capacity from wind was 7.0 GW on land and 4.7 GW at sea. More electricity was generated from offshore wind than a year earlier. This is largely because wind farms that became operational in 2024 had a full year of production in 2025.
More electricity was also produced from biomass, which is co-fired in coal-fired power plants.
Total production from renewable sources was slightly higher (6 percent) than in 2024. Compared to 2015, production was almost five times higher. In total, renewable sources accounted for 49 percent of total electricity production in 2025. Renewable sources are the main source of electricity production, as in 2024.
Onshore Wind
Offshore Wind
Biomass
Hydropower
billion kWh
* provisional figures
More Electricity Produced from Natural Gas and Coal
Production from fossil sources was 14 percent higher than in 2024. Forty-eight percent of electricity production came from fossil sources.
Electricity production from natural gas was 11 percent higher than a year earlier. Coal combustion produced 25 percent more electricity. Over a longer period, electricity production from coal has declined: 70 percent less than in 2015.
Coal
Oil Products + Other Fuels (non-renewable)
billion kWh
* provisional figures
A Quarter More Electricity Exported
More electricity was exported in 2025 than ever before. In total, it was 30 billion kWh, a quarter more than in 2024. Especially exports to Germany and Belgium increased.
Exports to Germany increased by almost half. The main reasons are reduced wind production off the German coast and reduced production in Switzerland and Austria due to lower water levels. Exports to Belgium increased by almost a quarter. An important cause is reduced electricity production in Belgian nuclear power plants. Imports decreased by 19 percent, mainly from Germany, Belgium, and Norway. Imports have nearly halved in ten years. The main reason is that the Netherlands produces more electricity itself.
Imports
Exports
billion kWh
* provisional figures
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