English
As predicted, February 2025 came with a lot more sun than February 2024: 103 hours of sunshine on average across the country according to Dutch meteorological institute KNMI, while last year there were only 52. Incidentally, twice as many hours of sunshine does not mean twice as much yield: after all, an hour of sunshine in the early morning or late evening is not worth the same as an hour of sunshine at 12 noon. But for many installations we did see that the yield from the panels in February this year was about 50% higher than last year.
Twice as many hours of sunshine in February 2025 compared to 2024 (source: KNMI)
The most sunshine was to be had on the first days of the month and later on from 16 to 19 February. After that last sunny period it suddenly became much warmer but at the same time the cloud cover increased. It won't be getting really cold anymore in the near future, but it has been wonderfully sunny recently and we see our installations generally performing well.
Some lovely sunny days in February 2025..
In February there wasn’t a single day with negative electricity prices on the spot market. However, we do now see the basic electricity price reaching zero around noon on sunny days. That doesn’t mean that the all-in price is also zero: that one will remain around 15 cents, thanks to taxes and levies. So don't turn off your inverter, that would be a waste!
The gas price reached a provisional peak of almost €1.50 per m3 in February 2025, but has started to fall again. It does mean that heating with gas was relatively expensive in February. The electricity price has risen much less sharply than the gas price recently, which made heating with an air-to-air heat pump on electricity a lot cheaper last month. That is already the case anyway because heat pumps are so efficient, but thanks to the fact that the price of electricity in the Netherlands is becoming increasingly decoupled from the gas price, that advantage is only getting bigger.
.. but also occasionally thick cloud cover
The prospects for March look good: quite a bit of sun and pleasant temperatures. Due to the lack of wind, there is a chance of fog every now and then, but despite that, March is on track to deliver a reasonable yield of solar energy. More sun, longer days: make the most of it! Maybe it's not a bad idea to upgrade your system now? We're here to help!
