According to http://www.hollandsolar.nl it is estimated that by 2020 approximately 25% of households in The Netherlands will have converted to solar power with that figure predicted to rise to 50% by 2030.

Even though there are various local and regional initiatives available in order to help householders and businesses to install a solar energy system, The Netherlands has not seen such a rise in users as in many other EU countries and the reason for this is seen as the lack of promotion and support by the Government.

Various bodies within the Dutch Government are now being set up to rectify this problem and according to Edwin Koot, a solar energy advisor, The Netherlands is far behind the rest of the world regarding renewable energy issues and when taking into account the fact that solar energy will soon be no more expensive than more traditional forms of energy, it is imperative that this issue is tackled as soon as possible.

Koot pointed out that they just needed to look at other EU countries to get an idea of the amount of revenue they are losing out on, due to the supposed lack of involvement in the Solar Power industry over the past 6 years.

The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, http://www.ez.nl, has announced a feed-in tariff scheme with a cap of approximately 1000MW which equates to an investment by the Government of EUR 1.5 billion.

Installations up to 15kW will receive EUR 0.526 per kWh and projects above that figure will receive EUR0.459 per kWh. This scheme will allow more applicants to qualify as it was the case in 2008 that many applications were refused.

Taking into account the above feed-in tariffs and the local and regional incentives it is estimated that it would take an average size home in The Netherlands around 15 years to begin to see a profitable return on investment.

There are various educational programmes in place to help educate the Dutch population of the benefits of solar energy and a dedicated helpline has been set up to help consumers with any questions.

Along with many other countries in the EU, The Netherlands is taking part in a series of events in May 2010 which are known as Solar days, http://www.solardays.nl, These days are designed to promote the importance of solar energy and to educate on the fact of renewable energy at all levels.