The Netherlands - RVO NL

RVO NL Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (Netherlands Enterprise Agency) 

RVO NL Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (Netherlands Enterprise Agency) is a department of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, that implements government policy for sustainability, innovation, and international business and cooperation. It is the contact point for businesses, (knowledge) institutions and government bodies for information and advice,financing, networking and regulatory matters.

RVO was established in 2014, as a merger of “Dienst Regelingen” and “NL Agency”. RVO now implements all government policies that were formerly implemented by the constituent organisations. 

RVO encourages entrepreneurs in sustainable, agrarian, innovative and international business.  Agency is the number one contact point for businesses, knowledge institutions and government bodies. One single contact point for information, advice, financing, networking and regulatory matters. One single contact point for a quicker and better service.

RVO also works on behalf of international organisations such as the European Union, the International Energy Agency (IEA) and foreign governments. Through us these organisations gain access to a broad Dutch network of knowledge institutes, research centres, trade associations, companies and government officials. We also participate in numerous international platforms and counselling groups. 

The sub-directorate Competitive and Sustainable energy is one of the five directorates of ROV and is the central Dutch entity to run governmental programmes related to energy and climate change issues. Apart from national programmes this sub-directorate is also active in projects for the International Energy Agency and the European Union. Domestic programmes have international components as well.

The Sustainable Energy Economy programme is the central national programme of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, / ROV to implement policies in the field of renewable energy and energy-efficiency. One of the major clusters within this programme is the energy innovation and energy transition cluster that focuses on renewable energy and energy efficiency related RD&D. The EOS (Energy Research Subsidy) part of that programme has had a typical budget of about 30 M€ on a yearly basis, whereas the IAE (Innovation Agenda Energy) part of the programme forms an additional input of about 100 M€ for the years 2010-2014. 

Within the EOS and IAE parts of the programme various RD&D projects in the field of geothermal energy have been funded. The total budget allocated to geothermal RD&D projects in the last 5 years has been about 13 M€. On top of this about 43 M€ has been allocated for a guarantee scheme, covering the geological risks for geothermal pilot projects in the Netherlands.

Lead person:
Mr. Paul Ramsak- of the Energy Research Coordination Team within the Competitive and Sustainable Energy Sector sub- directorate. He has been involved in geothermal energy since the year 2000, and has been one of the key-persons to get geothermal energy off the ground in the Netherlands. Paul Ramsak is the central contact for geothermal energy within RVO NL (Netherlands Enterprise Agency)