Representative image of haul from coal mine.
Credit: Reuters Photo
The Dutch government said on Monday it would pay Germany's RWE 331.8 million euros ($355 million) in compensation for lost income after capping coal companies' production at 35% of capacity in the 2022-2024 period.
The cap was intended to reduce national carbon dioxide emissions.
In a letter to parliament, Energy Minister Rob Jetten said compensation for the three companies operating coal plants in the Netherlands - RWE, Uniper and privately held Onyx - would be less than the 1.9 billion euros they had demanded.
That's because the cap was abruptly removed in mid-2022 as part of moves to reduce use of scarce gas following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Compensation for the other two companies has not yet been determined, but the Netherlands has reserved 730 million euros in all for compensation, Jetten said.
The plants will still be forced to close by 2030 under Dutch law. In November last year, a court rejected the companies' claims for additional compensation for that. ($1 = 0.9353 euros)