Development of the Dutch Energy Efficiency Action Plan

Rob Kool and Renée Bruel, SenterNovem, The Netherlands

Energy efficiency is once more at the top of the policy agenda in the Netherlands. In fact the Dutch government wants to be one of the frontrunners of the EU in this field. Reasons for this renewed attention for energy efficiency are:

• security of supply
• renewables are still too expensive to have an important impact on energy supply
• concerns about climate change

June 2007 at the latest, the Netherlands will have to submit the first National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency under the ESDto the Commission. This will partly be inspired by our 4-yearly energy policy document The Energy Report (2005), but mainly by our new governmental policy .

The Dutch Action Plan will contain a promotional programme to increase energy efficiency. It will consist of a combination of current and new policy instruments. A number of them like for instance white certificates, smart metering, and revolving funds will be discussed. Although not all of them shall be included in the Dutch Action Plan yet they will become elements of the policy that is being drawn at the moment and that will lead to 2 % energy efficiency improvement/annum.

It will address all sectors of the economy, including the transport and greenhouse sectors.

In order to achieve the goals set, new instruments will be added. Existing instruments with a low impact in the past, but with proven results abroad, will be redesigned and reintroduced. ESCO’s, in combination with financial instruments, will be one of these instruments.

This Dutch Action Plan for Energy Efficiency will double as Energy Efficiency Action Plan (EEAP) within the framework of The Energy End-Use Efficiency and Energy Services Directive (ESD).

In this paper, we will elaborate upon this upcoming Dutch Action Plan, the development process, the instruments employed and the expected problems of implementation.