OREANDA-NEWS. Dutch coal plants planning to co-fire with biomass will be unable to apply in March's SDE+ renewable subsidy round after a motion was passed today in the house of representatives, Dutch Labour member of parliament, Jan Vos said.

The motion, filed by Vos yesterday and adopted today, means that coal plants planning to co-fire with biomass will be unable to apply for the SDE+ subsidy until at least September this year when clarity is expected on the planned phase-out of coal power plants in the Netherlands and an agreement may be reached to reduce emissions levels by 35pc by 2020 from 1990 levels.

Applications for the SDE+ renewable scheme were due to be submitted in two rounds of €4bn ($4.4bn) each, one in March and one in September. But biomass co-firing will now be unable to apply in the first round.

The Dutch parliament's lower house adopted a motion calling for the phase-out of coal-fired capacity in November 2015. A plan is being formulated by Dutch economy minister Henk Kamp and is due to be released this autumn.

Energy companies had expressed concern over the lack of a clear timeline for plans to phase out coal capacity in the Netherlands, and some said they were unlikely to apply for the SDE+ subsidy if the government could not guarantee the full eight years of subsidy support for co-firing.