An order under penalty was imposed by the municipality against four people involved in a greenhouse that is full of solar panels but in which little or no cultivation takes place. They appealed against this. The court declared their appeal well-founded, but agreed with the municipality that action may be taken against the project.
After inspections in the summer of 2022, the municipality of Peel and Maas (the Netherlands) decided to impose an order under penalty. Checks showed that no agricultural activities were taking place in the greenhouse, while solar panels were supplying electricity. According to the municipality, this violated the zoning plan in force.
The parties involved put up a defence against the order under penalty. A modification of the order under penalty followed, insofar as the violation could be ended by stopping electricity generation and delivery to third parties. At that point, the order under penalty would lapse. Meanwhile, the municipality could take another look at the zoning plan.
Climate cells
A new inspection took place this spring. The plot then contained four small climate cells. Furthermore, the inspection report dealt with in the court case showed that a diesel power generator was present on the plot, to serve as a power supply for those climate cells. The solar panels were not connected to the climate cells during the inspection. The presence of the climate cells for cultivation was classified by the court as 'limited agricultural operation'.
Too limited, according to the ruling. Those involved argue that a multitude of circumstances caused delays. These include 'a highly innovative project', 'high costs' involved and 'poor weather conditions'.
Those affected asked for injunctive relief. The judge sees no reason for this. We quote, "If a greenhouse horticulture business of any size can be said to exist on the plot at all, that business operates separately from the power generation that takes place through the structure with solar panels. That power generation is then still prohibited."
Claims too late
Where those involved in the project did have some luck, is on a technicality. The municipality imposed the 2022 enforcement order on four people. Successfully, they argue that one of those involved was wrongly identified as an offender. An order under penalty was imposed against the applicant and also holder of the granted environmental permit, but because the municipality does not enforce on the basis of that environmental permit and that environmental permit has also been realized and thus worked out, one of the four persons involved escaped the order under penalty. This person also made headlines earlier with a similar plan involving greenhouses in Friesland.
For the project in Limburg, those involved point out that a lot of work and money has already gone into the project. They say the use of the structure with the solar panels is in line with the zoning plan "in the short term". The right people for the advocated innovative form of greenhouse horticulture have now been recruited, the first of the larger climate cells will soon be able to be installed from storage and the proper connection of the solar panels to the climate cells is also in the planning, they indicate.
National discussion
According to the judge, this all still does not make it possible to continue generating power at the project in violation of the zoning plan in order to recover the costs already invested. Moreover, the judge stressed, they have had almost two years since the imposition of the order under penalty to make the power generation part of a greenhouse farm of some size. This has not happened, the inspection this spring showed. The order under penalty dates back to 2022.
In the greenhouse industry, there is discussion about projects like the one above. Several greenhouses have been filled with solar panels in recent years, but there are doubts about the extent to which cultivation can then still take place in the greenhouses and whether this is still according to all the rules. Glastuinbouw Nederland advocates regulation and fights projects about which people have doubts. A case in the municipality of Venlo made the news just this spring.