Community energy in the Netherlands

Greenonomics published a list of what, in its view, sustainable communities do differently, and puts community energy at the top: it would keep more investment inside the local economy, with examples from the Netherlands.

The numbers behind that model are in the Lokale Energie Monitor 2025, released by Energie Samen on 23 March 2026: 696 local cooperatives supply electricity to half a million households, with around 143,000 members and more than 9,000 volunteers.

The same survey shows where the model loses traction. In 2025, 66 new solar projects were completed, fewer than in previous years, and no new cooperative wind project came in. The monitor attributes this to negative electricity prices, higher operating costs, insufficient subsidy income and grid connection bottlenecks.

The local-value case holds up in the membership figures. What limits expansion is revenue, and the monitor projects 45.2 MW of new cooperative wind capacity over the next two to three years, the volume that will show whether the model resumes growth.