From the 16th till the 19th century the Netherlands was world champion in wind power with more than 10,000 windmills. Today the Dutch are stay-behinds because in the use of renewable energies the country is ranked 26th among the 28 EU countries.
The Dutch government wants to change that and to increase the renewable energy share from 4% to 14%, the EU target for 2020. But against almost all onshore wind power projects there is resistance from residents – one group is even called Don Quixote – and there are also protests against big offshore projects.
Rixt de Boer, chairwoman of a foundation that fights against the construction of the largest onshore wind park in the Netherlands, takes SRF reporter Sebastian Ramspeck to large wind turbines near her house to explain what the problem is.
Marjan Minnesma, the director of the foundation Urgenda, an organisation that strives for a durable and circular economy, explains why all forms of durable energy are needed to be able to change around the system in 20 years.
At the historic Zaanse Schans footage is recorded of Dutch traditional windmills in action.
For this news reportage Featurez gave advice, did the research, setup and planning, accompanied the filming, did translations and organised archive footage.
