1. Ground-mounted Solar Farms: Expansion and Land Use Controversies

In 2022, the Dutch PV industry continued its strong growth. According to data from Statistics Netherlands (CBS), the Netherlands installed 1,946 MW of PV systems in the first half of 2022, with total annual installed capacity reaching approximately 3,882 MW. By the end of June 2022, cumulative PV capacity nationwide had reached 16.85 GW. Ground-mounted solar farms played a significant role in this expansion.

At the policy level, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs preselected 2.26 GW of PV projects under the 2022 SDE++ (Stimulation of Sustainable Energy Production) scheme, including 77 ground-mounted solar farms with a total capacity of 955 MW. The scheme’s budget reached a record high of €13 billion, demonstrating strong government support for renewable energy.

In terms of project construction, several large ground-mounted solar projects made progress. Chint Solar started construction of the Vleddermond solar park in the municipality of Stadskanaal. The project covers 16.9 hectares, will install more than 36,000 solar panels, and has a capacity of 20.1 MWp, expected to provide sustainable energy for about 6,400 households annually. Meanwhile, RWE continued operating its first ground-mounted solar park in Kerkrade, covering 12 hectares. Solinoor and NEDERZAND signed the contract for the Geertjesgolf solar project on 24 July 2022, and began installing approximately 7,650 PV modules in October of the same year.

However, the large-scale construction of solar farms also sparked land‑use controversies. The most representative case was the Budel solar park incident: in July 2022, the municipality of Cranendonck issued an environmental permit to Sunvest Ontwikkeling for a 76.5‑hectare solar park near Budel. The agricultural organisation ZLTO objected. Although the East Brabant District Court initially rejected the objection, the Dutch Council of State (Raad van State) subsequently ruled in favour of ZLTO, stating that the land was valuable agricultural land and should not be occupied by a solar farm. The court noted that the municipality should have prioritised other more suitable land or rooftop resources. This ruling had a significant impact on the site selection policy for ground‑mounted PV projects in the Netherlands, setting a stricter threshold for agricultural land protection.

2. Foundation and Geotechnical Engineering: Technological Innovation Meeting Challenges

Due to the Netherlands’ delta geography with widespread soft soil layers, foundation engineering is always a core issue in the construction sector. Several important developments occurred in this field in 2022.

On the research front, Kevin Duffy, a PhD student at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), conducted research on pile behaviour under typical Dutch soil conditions (soft clay and peat layers overlying sand layers up to 30 metres deep). The third phase of field testing took place at the TU Delft campus in spring 2022, sponsored by Rijkswaterstaat. The research focused on the performance of screw injection piles, aiming to optimise pile design standards, reduce the use of concrete and steel while maintaining high safety levels, and thereby lower CO₂ emissions.

On the engineering application side, the Netherlands’ largest soil injection project continued in 2022. Located on the N206 Tjalmaweg road section, where part of the road lies below the groundwater table, the project used water glass injection technology to construct a waterproof layer. The project involved installing 96,000 injection pipes with a total length of 1,500 kilometres, divided into 13 compartments. The pipes were vibrated to a depth of about 15 metres, forming a continuous gel layer to prevent groundwater ingress. Franki Grondtechnieken acted as the technical lead, deploying up to six equipment sets simultaneously, demonstrating Dutch technical expertise in complex ground treatment.

Foundation work for residential and commercial buildings was also active. Vroom Funderingstechnieken participated in several foundation projects in 2022: in Schoorldam, it built foundations for six permanent homes and three holiday houses using 73 precast concrete piles and 37 foundation beams; in the De Blauwe Kreken development in Poeldijk, it installed foundations for 51 homes using approximately 600 piles, with soil exploration reaching 30 metres below sea level; and around Biddinghuizen, it built foundations for 45 wind turbines using 1,952 vibro piles, with each turbine foundation containing about 100 tonnes of rebar and 800 cubic metres of concrete.

3. Infrastructure and Underground Works: Cable Installation and Technical Innovations

Ground installation is not limited to solar farms and building foundations; it also encompasses a large amount of underground infrastructure work. In 2022, Dutch grid operator TenneT awarded the onshore cable connection contract for the Hollandse Kust (West Beta) offshore wind farm to the NRG consortium (comprising Denys, Alsema, and Van Vulpen). NRG will install 2.5 km of high‑voltage underground cables from Velsen beach using horizontal directional drilling technology. The offshore wind farm has a capacity of 700 MW and is scheduled to enter operation in 2026. NRG had previously successfully completed submarine cable drilling work in the area, building valuable experience and expertise.

Underground space development in Amsterdam was equally remarkable. Beneath the Singelgracht canal, an 800‑space underground car park was under construction, part of an ambitious project by the City of Amsterdam to free up above‑ground space.

4. Timber Pile Foundation Crisis: The Cascading Effects of Drought

The 2022 drought in Europe was the worst in 500 years, and this climate event severely impacted buildings with timber pile foundations in the Netherlands. Many buildings constructed before 1970 (including the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam) are built on timber piles. The drought caused a significant drop in groundwater levels, exposing timber piles to air and allowing fungal decay, leading to building subsidence. The Rijksmuseum has already tilted by 15 centimetres.

According to Peter Boelhouwer, Professor of Housing Systems at TU Delft, as many as one million homes in the Netherlands built on pile foundations face similar risks, with repair costs possibly reaching €100 billion. The average repair cost per household is between €60,000 and €80,000. The government and relevant agencies have launched a national fund of €20 million to help the most vulnerable households with foundation remediation. This crisis highlights the systemic threat posed by climate change to traditional Dutch building foundations and presents new challenges for foundation engineering technology.