Dutch Trains Now Fully Powered by Wind Energy.

The New Year has brought greener modes of transport to Netherlands. As at the 1st of January, all electric train rides in Netherlands had become entirely powered by clean renewable wind energy. Although the trains were earlier set to run solely on 100% renewable energy by 2018, having reached 75% in 2016, the country had already met its target sooner than expected.

Dutch railway companies, of which Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) is the largest, partnered with Energy Company Eneco in 2015 to cut all train emissions in the country. The train network requires 1.2 billion KW of electricity each year, which is capable of powering all houses in Amsterdam. According to DutchNews.nl, there is a total of 2,200 wind turbines which can power up to 2.4 million homes across the country.

Also according to Eneco, the electricity for the project comes from newly built farms in Netherlands, Belgium and Finland and the early completion of these farms aided meeting the 100% target a year ahead of time. This is a big step for the country as they serve as examples to other countries.

Accounts Manager at Eneco, Michel Kerkhof said “what makes this contract and partnership unique is that a whole sector decreases its CO2 footprint enormously and sets an example for other sectors to follow.