<article><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>The Dutch parliament's lower house adopted a motion calling for the phase-out of coal-fired capacity in <a href="http://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/1143757">November 2015</a>. A plan is being formulated by Dutch economy minister Henk Kamp and is due to be released this autumn.</p><p>Energy companies had expressed <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/1158147">concern over the lack of a clear timeline</a> 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.</p><div id="article-footer"><p><br> Send comments to <a href="mailto:feedback@argusmedia.com" target="_parent"> feedback@argusmedia.com </a></p><p><u><a href="http://www.argusmedia.com/Info/General/News" target="_TOP"> Request more information </a></u> about Argus' energy and commodity news, data and analysis services. </p><p><i> Copyright © 2016 Argus Media Ltd - <a href="http://www.argusmedia.com/" target="_TOP"> www.argusmedia.com </a> - All rights reserved. </i></p></div></article>
