Large solar parks will no longer be available in Overijssel, if it is up to the province

Here is quite a happy and satisfied party leader,” says BBB member Carla Evers, smiling broadly, in the Overijssel Provincial Council meeting on Wednesday evening. Evers is so enthusiastic about a proposal from the Provincial Executive: the province will not allow new solar parks on agricultural and natural land in Overijssel. All parties except D66 agreed to the proposal. Municipalities are therefore obliged not to grant permit applications for solar parks from October 12.

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Generating energy on your own property with a solar field of up to 2 hectares is still allowed. The council found that an important argument was that Overijssel has already achieved the regional objectives for solar energy for 2030. The province adds up the yield from solar parks and solar panels on roofs. She also counts projects ‘in the pipeline’, which are “in all likelihood” being realised.

Overijssel wanted to generate 1,300 gigawatt hours of solar energy per year by 2030. Of this, 423 gigawatt hours are already being produced. The remaining 961 gigawatt hours must come from the planned projects.

Conserving land for nature and food production, maintaining the quality of the green (living) environment and striving for efficient use of scarce space are the most important reasons for the province not to want more solar parks. “More solar fields also contribute to grid congestion even more,” adds provincial spokesperson Fieke van den Esschert. This is the problem that the electricity grid cannot handle large peaks of generated solar power. “Grid operators have been critical of large-scale generation from solar fields for a long time.”

The Overijssel coalition agreement, of a broad coalition of BBB, SGP, VVD, GroenLinks and PvdA, certainly plays a role in the new ban. The agreement explicitly states that the coalition does not want solar parks on agricultural land. BBB leader Caroline van der Plas proudly posts to X that Overijssel came to the decision “under the influence of BBB”.

The decision regarding the solar parks was secret until Wednesday, to prevent new permits from being applied for quickly. Several members of Parliament asked during the debate whether this secrecy was necessary. Rick Brink (CDA) felt “extremely uncomfortable” with this way of doing politics. CU, D66 and CDA, among others, feared that the secret preparation would not do any good to confidence in politics, a hobbyhorse of the new coalition.

Various parties still have the Grip on Wind motion from July in mind. Because of this motion, the province now designates areas for wind turbines, not the municipality. This was not well received by many municipalities, to put it mildly.

Energy ambitions

The decision about the solar parks is also not going well with some municipal administrators. Councilor Thomas Walder of the municipality of Deventer has been disappointed ever since he heard about it. “We are now not going to achieve our municipal energy ambitions, and that is because of the province,” says Walder (D66).

Every municipality makes agreements about sustainable energy in the Regional Energy Strategy (RES). The Overijssel region wants to generate 40 percent sustainable energy through the sun and 60 percent through wind. “But in Deventer we want to go for 30 percent wind and 70 percent sun,” says Walder. “That is the equivalent of four large wind turbines, the municipal council does not consider more turbines appropriate in our area. We still have a number of solar parks to go before we contribute our share to the RES. That is no longer possible, because no initiator dares to stand up anymore.” Walder believes that the province is depriving the municipality of the autonomy and space to work on the energy transition itself.

The councilor mentions four initiatives for solar parks in Deventer, which are now in doubt. For example, a group of farmers in Zuidloo, a hamlet in the municipality, wants to realize a solar park. “A permit is always the last step, a lot precedes it,” says Walder. “These initiators have not yet submitted an application.” According to Walder, the space that remains for small projects up to 2 hectares is “nothing.”

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Councilor Walder has seen a break with previous policy since the elections. “This is not how we know the province. Previously, she was happy to facilitate our plans for energy transition. And now the province is no longer an accelerator, but an inhibitor.”

According to provincial spokesperson Van den Esschert, municipalities could have seen the decision coming. It is stated in the coalition agreement. She also points to a letter to Parliament from Minister Rob Jetten (Climate, D66), in which he advises that agricultural and natural land should be spared as much as possible when realizing solar parks.

Comments may be submitted until November 22, when it will be determined whether the ban on solar parks on nature and agricultural land will be given a permanent place in provincial policy.

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