Photo: Kindel Media | Pexels
In the Dutch countryside east of Amsterdam, an 80-foot hill of waste covered by 23,000 solar panels can produce enough electricity for about 2,500 households. The Netherlands is putting solar on car parks, commercial lakes, sheep grazing fields, strawberry farms, disused churches, train stations and airfields. "We have to be innovative and creative so we can produce the electricity the Netherlands needs to go green," says Bernd Nijen Twilhaar of Solarfields, which manages large solar farms. The Netherlands, Europe's per-capita solar powerhouse, aims to make 70% of its electricity renewable by 2030. Last year, it generated 14% of its electricity from solar farms, overtaking coal-fired power generation for the first time. Inspired by the Dutch example, the German renewable energy company BayWa r.e. now is rolling out more floating solar sites in European countries such as Belgium, Austria and France.
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