The Dutch Enterprise Agency (RVO) launched a publicly accessible database in December 2023 containing data on all roofs and car parks in the Netherlands that can be used for the installation of photovoltaic systems.
A few months after the launch of this database, the Dutch Enterprise Agency (RVO) said that this new tool has helped PV system developers to identify approximately 725 square kilometers of roofs in the Netherlands that are suitable for installing PV systems, which represents 50 percent of the country’s built-up roof area.
In a statement, the agency said, “However, only 8 percent of this roof area can be directly fitted with PV systems, while in other cases several issues and barriers must first be addressed.”
Potential problematic barriers include skylights, segmented roof shapes, weak roof structures, and asbestos tiles, the Dutch Enterprise Agency (RVO) said.
The database provides data on available roof space in all Dutch cities and regions. It also features a data viewer that highlights installation barriers, grid congestion risks, grid connection issues, and PV systems already installed.
The Dutch PV market is expected to add 4.82GW of new PV systems in 2023, according to the recent study ‘PV Trends in the Netherlands 2023’, published by consultancy Dutch New Energy.
Last year, about 2.5 GW of the installed capacity of new PV systems came from residential properties, up from 2.2 GW the year before, and the remaining 2.4 GW came from commercial and industrial PV systems and large-scale PV power plants.