The economic successes and prosperity of the Netherlands and the western world have been heavily dependent upon the availability of cheap and abundant energy. In the 21st century, however, we face the challenge of rapidly depleting fossil fuel reserves. This problem becomes even more eminent when one considers the growing demands in energy from developing nations that are showing high rates of population and economic growth. The challenge of energy scarcity could be met by the diffusion of renewable energy, but the Netherlands have lagged behind in comparison with its European neighbours. Especially in photovoltaic energy, the Netherlands have a significant lower production capacity than its direct neighbours Germany and Belgium. This work seeks to answer the question of what the barriers to photovoltaic energy diffusion are. It explores the troubles of an ever-shifting renewable energy subsidy mechaisms, an unreliable clientale of renewable energy consumers, the perverse incentives in the mechanism for green energy certificates and the discouragement of private household production of energy.