Dutch renewable energy consumption grew 16% in 2019 with big bioenergy push

In the Netherlands, the Dutch statistics service CBS says that in 2019, renewable energy consumption in the Netherlands grew by 16 percent to 181 petajoules (PJ) relative to the previous year. More than half of this increase was due to increased consumption of biomass, particularly co-firing in power plants and in the form of biodiesel and biogasoline. In addition, solar power consumption rose substantially. The increase in biodiesel and biogasoline consumption was related to a higher renewable energy target for transportation imposed on suppliers of motor fuels, which was raised from 8.5 to 12.5 percent. A large part of the biofuels that are put on the Dutch market have been produced from used cooking oil and the raw materials in biofuel consumption come from around the world, as reported by the Dutch Emissions Authority.