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Page added on June 4, 2017
All Dutch trains now run on 100% wind power
Initially, trains in the Netherlands were set to run entirely on renewable energy by 2018.
However, it seems officials have been able to beat that goal by an entire year. As of the first of January this year, all public transport trains are being powered by renewable energy, namely from wind power.
The historical land of windmills is leading the charge in wind energy development.
According to DutchNews.nl, there’s currently a total of 2,200 wind turbines across the country. These windmills generate enough power to sustain the equivalent of 2.4 million homes. The trains alone consume about 1.2 billion kWh of electricity a year, which is roughly the total power consumption of every home in the country’s largest city, Amsterdam.
The goal was accomplished in partnership with Eneco, a Dutch sustainable energy supplier. According to Eneco account manager Michel Kerkhof “What makes this contract and partnership unique is that a whole sector decreases its CO2 footprint enormously and sets an example for other sectors to follow.”
Check out the video below highlighting the development (unless you’re fluent in Dutch, you may want to translate the captions):
Wind energy is rapidly taking over in the Netherlands, while other nations also work toward increasing their renewable energy production. Back in August, Scotland reported that its wind farms were able to produce 106 percent of the country’s entire energy needs. Scotland has plans to be 100 percent zero-carbon by 2020. They are also investing in tidal power generation to help achieve that goal.
The United States is also making strides in its wind power generation. According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), there are more than 48,800 turbines operating in the United States, allowing for a total installed wind capacity of 73,992 MW in 2015. While this dwarfs the number of turbines in other countries, the energy demand of such a large nation is significantly higher.
We are in the midst of a clean energy revolution. Some studies even suggest that countries as large as the United States could be completely powered by renewable energy by 2050.
27 Comments on "All Dutch trains now run on 100% wind power"
dionisio on Sun, 4th Jun 2017 9:58 am
I’ve been there. The wind will almost knock you off your feet. Windmills everywhere. A few of the traditional ones, lots of new ones.
Cloggie on Sun, 4th Jun 2017 10:04 am
We have discussed this before and to preempt criticism… Dutch trains do NOT drive on wind energy. What Dutch Rail did (and so did other companies like Google or Apple) is to invest in wind parks and create electricity producing capacity to the tune that it matches the consumption of Dutch Rail etc..
Here is the largest wind park that was funded by Dutch Rail:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BkyTBE7d8E
Windpark Westermeerwind
Location Google Maps: http://tinyurl.com/yd97tv24
Cloggie on Sun, 4th Jun 2017 10:14 am
To illustrate the immense potential of offshore wind, this Gemini wind park was commissioned last month May (150 turbines, 600 MW).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65mgPeygC8
This 600 MW wind park WOULD be enough to power the entire fleet of Dutch owned private cars of 8 million, provided they would all be e-vehicles like this one:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Zoe
Won’t be long until everybody drives electric.
The contracts for 5 new 700 MW offshore windparks are signed and will be built soon by DONG, van Oord, Shell and a few others.
With figures like this it is very difficult to be a doomer.
And in 2015 The Netherlands was ranking almost last in Europe in % renewable energy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_the_European_Union
Cloggie on Sun, 4th Jun 2017 10:26 am
Forgot to post the back-of-an-envelope calculation behind how many (few rather) offshore wind turbines you need to power your privately owned car fleet with average yearly mileage of 12,000 km (Netherlands):
https://deepresource.wordpress.com/2017/05/22/wind-power-and-electric-vehicles/
I made mistake in my previous post: you actually need two Gemini wind parks to power 8 million Renault Zoe.
However the Zoe is a 5-seater car, where on average the occupation rate is 1.25. If the world of self-driving cars is going to happen, you can in principle order a single seater car with your smart phone from the pool for your transportation needs, which requires much less energy and a single Gemini wind park could be sufficient for the entire Netherlands.
rockman on Sun, 4th Jun 2017 10:48 am
Thanks for those details. Just MHO but spinning headlines such as this hurts the green effort because so many know it’s primary a PR stunt. And it will be exposed to others as you just did. They would better be served by bragging about the financial support given to the wind farms.
Hell, a Texan will run over to get to those braggin’ rights. LOL.
Cloggie on Sun, 4th Jun 2017 11:05 am
this hurts the green effort because so many know it’s primary a PR stunt. And it will be exposed to others as you just did. They would better be served by bragging about the financial support given to the wind farms.
I disagree. Of course it is PR, and Dutch trains are powered by the grid, where 6 of the 8 wind parks build by Dutch Rail are not even located in the Nertherlands.lol
https://deepresource.wordpress.com/2016/12/31/dutch-railway-powered-for-100-by-wind-in-2017/
(list of windparks)
But I think Dutch Rail deserves this positive PR because of their efforts and it doesn’t hurt the green effort at all. Instead they set the tone and give the good example to other energy intensive companies.
In the end it is irrelevant where the generated electricity ends up. Dutch Rail used its hundreds of millions of euro’s to invest in wind parks, that’s what really matters.
Outcast_Searcher on Sun, 4th Jun 2017 11:22 am
rockman, I agree with you in principle. All they would need to do is tell the truth in the headline, something like “Dutch wind power now is enough to consistently run all the public transport trains, and Dutch Rail now replaces all the energy they pull from the grid via wind parks they invested in”. (Or better, shorter headline, but be honest about it.)
It’s still a very worthy accomplishment and still highlights the immense potential of wind parks.
The green publications (sadly, often rags, due to their frequent exaggeration or outright lies) often hurts their own image by NOT being forthright. And all this does is feed the suspicion (and lies) of the AGW denial set.
Someone needs to rise above the fray and be the group to trust. IMO, it should be the green press, as they represent the side we all NEED to win to have a chance to survive long term. And they represent the side that is winning (the question is how many decades that takes — I think it’s a few or more, but it definitely happens).
Outcast_Searcher on Sun, 4th Jun 2017 11:28 am
Cloggie: I often agree with your posts and like the research you do and the productive links you provide, so don’t take these serious questions the wrong way:
1). What do you mean by “won’t be long before everybody drives electric”? This to me is the kind of green exaggeration or lack of precision that I think hurts the green press. Do you mean 50 years? That seems like a pretty long time to me. If you say something like “Within 30 years, given the economics, it’s highly likely 80%+ of the new vehicle fleet will be EV’s, that seems like a very reasonable statement.
2). Why not just be HONEST about the PR the green press puts out? I agree with you that this is GREAT PR and very impressive re the wind farms? But why spin it so? It’s the typical political BS that the “bad guys” — politicians of all stripes, engage in. Since the greens are truly the good guys re AGW, why don’t they ACT like it in their PR?
jawagord on Sun, 4th Jun 2017 11:47 am
Nice to see the Dutch catching up with us, of course they are doing it on a much larger scale which explains the time lag? Enjoy the attaboys while you can, in the green world it’s mostly about what you are going to do next, not what you’re already doing.
https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/is-calgarys-answer-blowing-in-the-wind/article4151626/?ref=https://www.theglobeandmail.com&
Davy on Sun, 4th Jun 2017 11:52 am
The US and China are stuck with each other and they wag Europe and Japan’s tail. All our techno optimist should realize how fragile their energy transformative industrial techno build out is. They discount and dismiss this hidden risk as just a doomer fringe notion because growth is everywhere as evidence. They say we will solve our problems with sufficient techno development. Maybe they need to look again. This is the new normal and it can’t end well.
“Hedge Fund CIO: “Normally The Fed Would End This Bubble, But It Can’t This Time For One Reason”
http://tinyurl.com/yd4vsev6
“the Fed finds itself in a big “quandary” not so much due to the S&P500, and overall asset levels, which even Yellen now admits “pose risks to financial stability” as per the latest FOMC Minutes, but due to China: “The real credit excesses haven’t been created here, they’ve formed in China, which leaves the Fed in a quandary.” Much as the Fed would like to have jurisdiction over every corner of global finance, they no longer control China.”
“Classic late-cycle action,” said the CIO. “Vol-compression, loosening financial conditions, and a pain-trade that tilts forever higher,” he continued. “Normally the Fed ends it. Hiking aggressively, flattening the curve, widening credit spreads, and then the economy rolls.” But this cycle is not quite like the others. “The real credit excesses haven’t been created here, they’ve formed in China, which leaves the Fed in a quandary.” Much as the Fed would like to have jurisdiction over every corner of global finance, they no longer control China. “By closing the capital account, the Chinese once again have complete dominion over their domestic credit machine,” continued the same CIO. “When they were actively opening up the capital account, China relinquished control over their interest rates to the Fed.” The volatility of Jan/Feb 2016 was one of many consequences; a lesson not soon forgotten. Now that the Chinese have retaken control, economic volatility is more likely to come from within. “The warning sign for real problems will be a material decline in house price appreciation.” Or, as we explained in March, “Why The Fate Of The World Economy Is In The Hands Of China’s Housing Bubble”
bobinget on Sun, 4th Jun 2017 12:18 pm
Electrical storage sits where computers were at in 1982. The ONLY things holding back EV’s replacing ICE power are already in labs awaiting upscale.
Commodore 64 – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, C-64, C=64, or occasionally CBM 64 or VIC-64 in Sweden, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 …
Release date: August 1982 Memory: 64 KB RAM + 20 KB ROM
Introductory price: US$595 (equivalent to $1,4… Operating system: Commodore KERNAL/; Co…
You’ve come along way. By no means are you already there.
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/130380-future-batteries-coming-soon-charge-in-seconds-last-months-and-power-over-the-air
bobinget on Sun, 4th Jun 2017 12:58 pm
Build electric cars, advanced batteries will come.
Neatest thing about coming battery wars:
Mass production, aftermarket sellers, making all future and current EV’s eligible for lighter, faster charging, more durable, longer range, REPLACEMENT units.
Before these new batteries come out…..
Affordable? Why yes. Act now. Watch adds for used plug-in EV’s. The first Leaf’s are selling for under $6,000. IMO, one deal better will be low mileage VW e Golfs. The first two years (15/16) these almost hand made four door hatch-backs have but a 80 mile real world range. With only 20 moving parts, a three year old EV might have only 20,000 miles. Just look at seats, tires and windscreen wipers for obvious replacement.
Newer aftermarket batteries will, at first, be expensive. Wait. It took 20 years for USEFUL
$100 computer. Give low cost replacement EV batteries five years.
The real breakthrough will come with point of use storage. IE: Tesla’s easily copied, “storage wall’.
Generate electric during the day by solar, charge up the car, truck, tractor, light sea or aircraft at night.
bobinget on Sun, 4th Jun 2017 1:20 pm
Correction: “by solar OR household co-generation fuel cell’.
If you have NG available but solar (or wind) is out of the question, think fuel cells.
http://ballard.com/
onlooker on Sun, 4th Jun 2017 1:38 pm
From our super intensive FF world, to Globalism, to exponential population growth,to a debt based system that requires growth, to systemic corruption overtaking the entire financial sector, to our industrial agricultural system etc etc. What do they all have in common
They are all unsustainable
Nothing about our civilization can endure for much longer
Kenz300 on Sun, 4th Jun 2017 1:51 pm
Clean energy production with Wind power or solar panels / tiles and battery storage.
Clean energy consumption with electric vehicles. No emissions.
The future is electric powered by wind and solar.
twocats on Sun, 4th Jun 2017 3:22 pm
Very happy and impressed with renewable gains in Europe and elsewhere. The highly interconnected nature of global manufacturing that needs to be maintained to 1) build further renewables; 2) provide people with the toys that use those renewables – can this survive long enough to reduce FF demand enough to be “self-sustaining” for an extended period of time (20 – 50 years)? There will be stress fractures, increasing fragility, and step downs. No way to avoid those.
Cloggie on Sun, 4th Jun 2017 3:35 pm
Commodore 64 – Wikipedia
My whole IT-career is solely build on the Commodore-64. I had a shitty job in a huge air freight hangar of Philips Electronics near Eindhoven Airport, during my study in the early eighties. I analysed all the ins and out of that fabulous machine and against the will of my professor did all the wind turbine simulations for my thesis in Basic on that machine. Those were the days!
Cloggie on Sun, 4th Jun 2017 3:58 pm
1). What do you mean by “won’t be long before everybody drives electric”? This to me is the kind of green exaggeration or lack of precision that I think hurts the green press. Do you mean 50 years? That seems like a pretty long time to me. If you say something like “Within 30 years, given the economics, it’s highly likely 80%+ of the new vehicle fleet will be EV’s, that seems like a very reasonable statement.
8-15 years.
According to Dutch parliament the sale of all petrol and diesel cars will be prohibited as of 2025 or 8 years from now.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/18/netherlands-parliament-electric-car-petrol-diesel-ban-by-2025
Obviously it will take another 5-10 years until all old clunkers will have found their way to Ukraine, Russia and Kirghistan, but since everybody wants to be hip, green and what not, just like everybody wants the latest iPhone, it won’t take too long before the roads will be “cleared”. Will also make a huge difference in noise. Quiet highways and cities, what a joy!
2). Why not just be HONEST about the PR the green press puts out? I agree with you that this is GREAT PR and very impressive re the wind farms? But why spin it so? It’s the typical political BS that the “bad guys” — politicians of all stripes, engage in. Since the greens are truly the good guys re AGW, why don’t they ACT like it in their PR?
Well, because you can’t say that these trains don’t drive on wind either. In Europe we have a fully integrated continental grid. Five years ago I visited this hydro-power station high in the Swiss alps:
https://deepresource.wordpress.com/2012/11/25/mattmark-hydro-power-plant/
The tour guide told us that they can respond within minutes if somewhere in Europe there is a drastic change in supply or demand and they respond, either by discharging or pumping up.
We also have a rule that German “free” renewable energy always has preference over fossil, which leads to quite some irritation with Dutch operators of highly efficient natural gas power stations that are forced to stop producing electricity because of large German supply of renewable energy:
http://www.fluxenergie.nl/nederlandse-gascentrales-in-grote-problemen/
These 8 new power stations funded by Dutch Rail are simply plugged into the European grid and every year produce as much electricity as Dutch Rail consumes from the same grid. So what’s the big deal?
Plantagenet on Sun, 4th Jun 2017 4:03 pm
HooRAY for the Dutch.
They are truly an inspiration to us all. From holding back rising sea level by building higher and higher walls and dikes to generating electricity from the wind instead of using FF, they are world leaders.
CHEERS!
Cloggie on Sun, 4th Jun 2017 4:19 pm
Thanks for your kind words Plant, but the real heroes are the Danes, who did all the expensive pioneering decades ago and the Germans who gave the push towards economies of scale. We are really just the taillight in Europe, who simply geared up when it was commercially attractive. And that is now. But it will go very fast now, now that the likes of Royal Dutch Shell has entered the market of offshore wind, that has a large group of shareholders who want to see that Shell becomes a “green company”. Here the campaign to “take over Shell”:
https://follow-this.org/en/
The potential for North Sea wind is gi.gan.tic. In theory twice the current electricity consumption of the entire EU:
https://deepresource.wordpress.com/2017/05/16/the-enormous-energy-potential-of-the-north-sea/
makati1 on Sun, 4th Jun 2017 6:57 pm
Onlooker, you see the real world. The techie dreamers above do not. Too bad. Reality is a bitch.
onlooker on Sun, 4th Jun 2017 7:13 pm
Yes Mak, all the planet has been ignoring reality. The rich countries especially. Well,you can ignore reality but not its consequences. The rich countries day is coming soon
Outcast_Searcher on Mon, 5th Jun 2017 12:30 pm
8-15 years.
According to Dutch parliament the sale of all petrol and diesel cars will be prohibited as of 2025 or 8 years from now.
So you’re talking Dutch car sales, not global or first world, when you say, “everybody will be driving EV’s”, I take it?
That might be, except as far as the old clunkers, companies like Toyota are making ICE cars (i.e. the Camry) that can run 20 years now. I saw a statistic recently that in the US, the AVERAGE age for a car was 11+ years — which surprised me, because the cars don’t look that old on average, to me.
…
In the first world generally, and the US specifically, I’d be surprised if EV adoption was much above 10% of new car sales in a decade. At this point we’re still adding on a small fraction of a percentage each year and are still at about 1% of sales.
But if you’re just talking Dutch, that may be doable if they do it by decree and can use laws to force enough charging infrastructure to be in place.
And accomplishing that in 15 years would sure be a good example for the rest of the world to get their butts in gear.
Cloggie on Mon, 5th Jun 2017 12:41 pm
So you’re talking Dutch car sales, not global or first world, when you say, “everybody will be driving EV’s”, I take it?
For the moment we have given up on world rule, so yes, Holland only.
Cloggie on Mon, 5th Jun 2017 12:50 pm
Why wait for 2025? In the Netherlands all 5000 buses will be electric before 2025:
https://deepresource.wordpress.com/2017/06/05/netherlands-all-buses-electric-from-2025/
Jurgens on Mon, 5th Jun 2017 8:49 pm
Why wait for 2018? Ban all fossil fuels and fossil fuel products immediately! Angela Merkel has shown the way.
Cloggie on Tue, 6th Jun 2017 4:19 pm
Port of Esbjerg, Denmark, hub of North Sea offshore wind installation:
https://deepresource.wordpress.com/2017/06/06/wind-hub-port-of-esbjerg-denmark/