Wind renewable energy now entirely powering Dutch public transport trains.

The Netherlands which is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO; as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union, has this year set a new trend in its train technology. Dutch electricity company Eneco that won a tender offered by NS two years ago when the two companies signed a 10-year deal setting January 2018 as the date by which all NS trains should run on wind renewable energy, has managed to beat that goal by an entire year. As of the first of January this year, all public transport trains are being powered by renewable energy, namely from wind power.

Wind renewable energy is rapidly taking over in the Netherlands, while other nations also work toward increasing their renewable energy production. Back in August, Scotland reported that its wind farms were able to produce 106 percent of the country’s entire energy needs. Scotland has plans to be 100 percent zero-carbon by 2020. They are also investing in tidal power generation to help achieve that goal.

Eneco and NS said on a joint website that around 600,000 passengers daily are “the first in the world” to travel thanks to wind energy. NS operates about 5,500 train trips a day.

We should note that wind renewable energy from one windmill running for an hour can power a train for 120 miles, the companies said.

The Netherlands’ biggest wind renewable energy farm is 85 kilometres off the cost of Groningen. The Gemini wind farm comprises 150 wind turbines and will generate enough electricity for 785,000 households. Work on the wind farm began in 2015 and the project has cost €2.8bn to complete. The Netherlands already has three other offshore wind farms, generating combined power of almost 360 megawatts. The Gemini project produces 600 megawatts a year. The cabinet has given the green light to developers for five more offshore wind farms in the coming years. The government hopes 16% of Dutch energy needs are produced by sustainable means by 2023.

The Dutch government has set a target of 6,000 MW of onshore wind renewable energy by 2020 and 4,450 MW of offshore wind power by 2023. This will contribute towards the Dutch target of 14% renewable energy use out of total energy use by 2020 and 16% by 2023.