ROTTERDAM, 28 July 2026 – The number of Rotterdam homes with solar panels rose by 2,506 during 2025, bringing the estimated total to 37,725. That represents an annual increase of 7%, with solar installations now found at around 12% of the city’s homes.
The figures come from an analysis by energy company Zonneplan using newly released CBS data. Growth continued last year, but at a slower pace than during the earlier expansion of residential solar power. Across the Netherlands, the number of homes generating solar electricity increased by 4.3% in 2025, reaching more than three million.
Growth slows after rapid expansion
The number of Rotterdam homes with solar panels has increased by 219% over the past five years. Despite that sharp longer-term rise, the city remains well below the South Holland average: around 27% of homes across the province have panels, compared with 12% in Rotterdam.
Large cities tend to record lower percentages because they contain more flats, rented homes and buildings with shared roofs. Zonneplan’s analysis shows similarly low adoption in Amsterdam, The Hague and Schiedam, while municipalities dominated by detached and semi-detached homes often have much higher shares.
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Uncertainty affects new installations
Zonneplan attributes the slower growth partly to a more mature market, but also to uncertainty about the financial value of new installations. Many energy suppliers now charge customers for feeding surplus electricity into the grid, while the national net-metering scheme (salderingsregeling) is approaching its end.
Under the current scheme, households can offset electricity supplied to the grid against electricity purchased during the year. That arrangement remains available until 31 December 2026, but ends completely on 1 January 2027.
What changes from 2027
Solar-panel owners will still be able to export electricity after the net-metering scheme ends, but they will no longer receive the same value as they pay when purchasing power. Energy suppliers must continue paying a feed-in payment, which until 2030 must equal at least 50% of the basic electricity supply tariff, excluding taxes.
Suppliers may also apply feed-in charges to cover costs associated with processing surplus solar electricity. Electricity generated and immediately used inside the home remains exempt from energy taxes and supplier charges, making direct consumption increasingly important after 2027.
Are solar panels still worthwhile?
“The days of receiving a windfall simply by putting solar panels on the roof are over,” a Zonneplan spokesperson said. “You receive a lower payment for electricity returned to the grid. However, returning electricity was never the primary purpose of generating your own power.”
Zonneplan says its customers currently use an average of 31% of their solar electricity directly at home. Based on a twelve-panel system and an electricity price of €0.27 per kilowatt-hour, the company estimates this could reduce annual electricity purchases by around €400. Running washing machines, heat pumps, air conditioning or electric-car chargers during sunny hours can increase direct consumption.
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The eventual return depends on the price of the installation, electricity rates, the household’s daytime consumption, the orientation of the roof and the conditions of its energy contract. The Dutch government expects payback periods to become longer after 2027, but states that panels can still recover their cost during their average operating life of approximately 25 years.
Home batteries can store part of the electricity generated during the day for later use, although the equipment requires an additional investment. Zonneplan says around one-quarter of its customers purchasing solar panels in 2026 also ordered a battery, but whether storage is financially attractive depends heavily on household consumption and energy prices.
Rotterdam figures remain provisional
The CBS dataset records the number and capacity of solar-power installations across homes and businesses. Its figures for 2024 and 2025 remain provisional and may therefore be revised when CBS publishes its next update.
Updated figures covering the first half of 2026 are expected in November. Until then, the current analysis suggests that Rotterdam’s solar market is still expanding, although the rapid growth seen earlier in the decade has clearly started to level off.
