AID FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY IN THE NETHERLANDS.

The European Commission authorised, on 29 December, a Dutch aid scheme called SDE ( stimulering duurzame energie') which stimulates the production of renewable energy and Combined Heat and Power (CHP). The extra available budget for the SDE is estimated at 2,144 million. The measure concerns a modification and a prolongation of two previously approved aid schemes known as MEP'. The subsidies for renewable and CHP electricity serve to compensate for the difference between the production costs of renewable and CHP electricity and the market price of conventional energy. In...