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Sociopolitical embedding of onshore wind power in the Netherlands and North Rhine–Westphalia
Abstract
This paper compares the historical socio-political innovation journeys of onshore wind power in North Rhine–Westphalia and the Netherlands, concentrating on the implementation (realisation) of wind energy projects and the market of project development. Attention is drawn to the level of implementation (where struggles between multiple interests and meanings become manifest) and to the ability of entrepreneurs to succesfully plan and develop projects. A historical new-institutionalist approach is adopted, in which actors, networks and their institutional environment are understood as mutually constitutive. We investigate how socio-political embedding has come about – the process through, which a new technology becomes embedded in existing and changing rules and routines of society. A conclusion is that socio-political embedding is crucial to the implementation achievements and market developments. The legitimacy of wind projects is not self-evident. Addressing socio-political embedding contributes to a better understanding of the development of this legitimacy. Not only researchers but also policy makers should address legitimacy as a central issue, not just an afterthought to the development and diffusion of new technologies. A policy and planning strategy that involves the institutionalisation of early participation of relevant stakeholders can enhance the legitimacy of both the process and outcome and contribute to social-political innovation needed to accomplish sustainable innovation journeys.
... In Germany the feed-in support system -REFIThas positively affected the involvement of the civil society and local initiatives to wind farms and correspondingly. The implemented planning system did not endorse the selection of sites by higher authorities, instead it only set a priority for wind developments ('Priviligierung') and then left the actual planning of the local wind development and site selection to local authorities (82). ...
... They have participated in cooperatives or other civil initiatives -'Bürgerinitiative' in German-to establish wind farms and thus became shareholders. There is a wide range of motives for such initiatives, but a strong driving force behind this development were various grassroots initiatives (Figure 3) based on environmental concern and the willingness to be involved in the development of alternatives to conventional and nuclear power generation (82,114). In the meantime, such civil initiatives have evolved into new energy companies with an inherent high degree of acceptance of renewables energy. ...
... The role, position and objectives of existing energy companies are a strong manifestation of market acceptance. In the Netherlands, the energy companies held a gatekeeper role and decided about the remuneration and grid access for more than a decade, whereas the German government forced power companies to accept competition from third parties (82). The latter factor is an essential feature of the success of the German 'feed-in' legislation and the Renewable Energies Act which effectively stimulated third parties to invest in wind turbines (115). ...
This is the lemma in the Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology, volume 17. Ed. Robert A Meyers. Springer Reference, 2012.
This lemma gives the most comprehensive overview of social acceptance of wind power so far. It deals with all subjects significant in social acceptance, listed below, including definitions. It provides more than 200 references and some further readings.
The willingness to accept phenomena related to innovation of different parts of society, including all realms beyond “the public,” can be subdivided in two broad categories:
– Acceptance of the creation of new socioeconomic conditions needed for implementation.
– Acceptance of the consequences of the implementation: implementation will affect current practices in society and forcing some to change.
Four Starting Points:
It is not about acceptance of technical systems, but about socio-technical systems; hence institutional factors (structural components of social organization around renewable energy) are key elements.
– All aspects of a new STS featuring a substantial amount of wind power are subject to social acceptance.
– An actor may accept certain aspects, while simultaneously rejecting other aspects, as a result of social, economic, and/or political learning processes.
Existing institutions (existing patterns of behavior as determined by existing societal rules) often impede the development and implementation of new views, approaches, techniques, and practices required for the implementation of wind power.
Some lingering common sense ideas must be abandoned: The objection to any wind power development must be considered as a potentially legitimate, rational, and informed position: All positive, active support as well as passive supporting attitudes, are equally important for obtaining a good understanding of the acceptance of wind power.
Social acceptance of wind power – as other renewables’innovations – contains three main dimesions: Socio-political acceptance, market acceptance, and community acceptance. Public acceptance should not be misinterpreted as a proxy for social acceptance, as it only covers a small part of all three, and it does often not run parallel with social acceptance.
As the first component in the social dimension of the socio-technical system, all relevant social actors involved in the process of acceptance must be considered. Again, this goes far beyond ‘public’ acceptance.
The attributes of acceptance are outlines, emphasizing the large differences between accepptance of general implementation of a technique, such as wind power, from acceptance of concrete projects. In fact these two are only weekly related, as their attributed are very different. Special attention is given to the overly simplistic, and very destructive common sense idea that the ‘gap’ between these two ― in fact the term ‘gap’ is very questionable itself — implies the existence of nimby-attitudes.
Socio-political Acceptance:
The shape and the reliability of the financial procurement system, which is of overwhelming importance for the utilization of 1. the potentially significant willingness to invest in wind developments; 2. The type and amount of effective support generated within the national and regional planning system for policies that develop wind power capacity; 3. The degree to which collaborative decision making on the level of communities is allowed and stimulated by the sociopolitical framework.
Community Acceptance:
Historically, the focus within this issue of social acceptance of renewable energy innovation has been on public acceptance as the cornerstone of community acceptance. Community acceptance refers to the specific acceptance of siting decisions and renewable energy projects by local stakeholders, particularly residents and local authorities.
Market Acceptance:
Social acceptance can also be interpreted as market acceptance or as the process of market adoption of an innovative STS.
Three categories of impact can be distinguished that are discussed in almost any case: landscape, wildlife, and annoyance issues.
The issue of social acceptance of wind power will come to the fore even more prominent in the coming decades, but the character of acceptance issues in the three dimensions will probably change. The current awareness of the required space for sustainable energy supply is still limited and, hence, the consequences in terms of landscape occupation and potential environmental conflicts are neither fully recognized. The main question of social acceptance will remain how to build socio-political and market acceptance for the collaborative way of planning and decision making that is needed. This key to the large number of positive investment and space-making decisions will even become more important because wind power is becoming increasingly part of an all-embracing STS of integrated sustainable energy supply. The new power supply system will have to integrate growing numbers of distributed generation units. The integration of all the components of sustainable power generation, including the mutual fine-tuning and optimization of local supply and demand and possibly with the introduction of local storage capacity must be embedded an intelligent “smart grid”, with many acceptance issues itself — as it runs fully counter to our existing centralized and hierarchically organized power supply system. The social acceptance of wind power will become embedded in the acceptance of all kinds of decisions about this future STS of sustainable energy supply and demand.
... Authors in this stream of literature seem to converge on the opinion that more participative and reflexive approaches to governance are more effective and can help to embed the goals of sustainable innovation in the rules and routines of politics, policy and society (e.g. Agterbosch and Breukers, 2008). In this respect, three recurring themes have been identified in the selected sample, specifically collaboration via the 'Triple Helix' (e.g. ...
... For this purpose, a clear direction regarding objectives, goals, actions and principles is needed (Ely et al., 2013;Leach et al., 2012;Partidário et al., 2007). Ensuring consistency between the strategies and actions adopted at national and local, regional and supra-national levels (Agterbosch and Breukers, 2008) can also facilitate trust-building and reduce uncertainty. -Bridging local know-how and expertise with global scientific knowledge is another important theme. ...
... Holistic approach (broad definition) (Agterbosch and Breukers, 2008;Barrie et al., 2017;Edelstein, 2004;Elsner, 2004;Kuzemko et al., 2016;Longhurst, 2015;Meelen and Farla, 2013;Nill and Kemp, 2009;Pellizzone et al., 2017;Smith et al., 2014). Total = 10 articles (Arnold, 2017;Ayuso et al., 2006Ayuso et al., , 2011Berkowitz, 2018;Dewberry and Sherwin, 2002;Dossa and Kaeufer, 2014;Flores et al., 2009;Gasbarro et al., 2018;Kennedy et al., 2017;Klewitz, 2017;Leising et al., 2018;Matos and Hall, 2007;Przychodzen et al., 2016;Rossignoli and Lionzo, 2018;Szekely and Strebel, 2013;Wagner, 2011). ...
Fostering innovation to achieve the goals of sustainable development agenda has been the aim of a growing number of governance strategies implemented by both public and private sector actors. Traditionally, the question of who is best fit to govern has been addressed through the hierarchy-market-network trichotomy, however, such an approach might be simplifying the ways actors interact in the process of governing sustainable innovation. This article aims to move beyond this debate by systematically reviewing the scientific literature on governance strategies fostering sustainable innovation and focusing on three key dimensions: the primary actor (the ‘who’), their approach to governance (the ‘how’) and conceptualisations of sustainable innovation (the ‘what’). Based on this ‘who-how-what’ framework, our analysis shows the shift towards more collaborative governance strategies and highlights the need to focus on the ‘how’ rather than debating over the ‘who’. Finally, we propose promising fields for future research.
... In Germany, the feed-in support system -REFIT -has positively affected the involvement of the civil society and local initiatives to wind farms and correspondingly. The implemented planning system did not endorse the selection of sites by higher authorities; instead it only set a priority for wind developments ("Priviligierung") and then left the actual planning of the local wind development and site selection to local governance [88]. ...
... They have participated in cooperatives or other civil initiatives -"Bürgerinitiative" in German -to establish wind farms and thus became shareholders. There is a wide range of motives for such initiatives, but a strong driving force behind this development were various grassroots initiatives (Fig. 3) based on environmental concern and the willingness to be involved in the development of alternatives to conventional and nuclear power generation [88,119]. In the meantime, such civil initiatives have evolved into new energy companies with an inherent high degree of acceptance of renewables energy. ...
... The role, position, and objectives of existing energy companies are a strong manifestation of market acceptance. In the Netherlands, the energy companies held a gatekeeper role and decided about the remuneration and grid access for more than a decade, whereas the German government forced power companies to accept competition from third parties [88]. The latter factor is an essential feature of the success of the German "feed-in" legislation and the Renewable Energies Act which effectively stimulated third parties to invest in wind turbines [119]. ...
“Basic challenge to concerning social acceptance” is a chapter in the edited volume "Renewable energy Systems”, L.Y. Kaltschmitt, M., N.J. Themelis, L.Y. Bronicki, L. Söder & L.A. Vega (Eds.), Springer, NewYork.
The chapter gives the most comprehensive overview of social acceptance, so emphatically more than the confusing and limited idea of public acceptance of wind power. Social acceptance is a bundle of processes of developing positive or negative decisions on wind power implmentation. It deals with all subjects significant in social acceptance, listed below, including definitions. It provides more than 200 references and some further readings.
Glossary: definitions of all distinguished concepts in social acceptance.
Definition of the Subject:
The willingness to accept phenomena related to innovation of different parts of society, including all realms beyond “the public,” can be subdivided in two broad categories:
– Acceptance of the creation of new socioeconomic conditions needed for implementation.
– Acceptance of the consequences of the implementation: implementation will affect current practices in society and forcing some to change.
Introduction: Four Starting Points:
It is not about acceptance of technical systems, but about socio-technical systems; hence institutional factors (structural components of social organization around renewable energy) are key elements.
– All aspects of a new STS featuring a substantial amount of wind power are subject to social acceptance.
– An actor may accept certain aspects, while simultaneously rejecting other aspects, as a result of social, economic, and/or political learning processes.
Existing institutions (existing patterns of behavior as determined by existing societal rules) often impede the development and implementation of new views, approaches, techniques, and practices required for the implementation of wind power.
Some lingering common sense ideas must be abandoned: The objection to any wind power development must be considered as a potentially legitimate, rational, and informed position: All positive, active support as well as passive supporting attitudes, are equally important for obtaining a good understanding of the acceptance of wind power.
Dimensions of Social Acceptance of Energy Innovation
Social acceptance of wind power – as other renewables’innovations – contains three main dimesions: Socio-political acceptance, market acceptance, and community acceptance. Public acceptance should not be misinterpreted as a proxy for social acceptance, as it only covers a small part of all three, and it does often not run parallel with social acceptance.
Actors:
As the first component in the social dimension of the socio-technical system, all relevant social actors involved in the process of acceptance must be considered. Again, this goes far beyond ‘public’ acceptance.
Subjects of Acceptance:
the attributes of acceptance are outlines, emphasizing the large differences between accepptance of general implementation of a technique, such as wind power, from acceptance of concrete projects. In fact these two are only weekly related, as their attributed are very different. Special attrnetion id given to the overly simplistic, and very destructive common sense idea that the ‘gap’ between these two ― in fact the term ‘gap’ is very questionable itself — inmplies the existence of nimby-attitudes.
Sociopolitical Acceptance:
The shape and the reliability of the financial procurement system, which is of overwhelming importance for the utilization of the potentially significant willingness to invest in wind developments; 2. The type and amount of effective support generated within the national and regional planning system for policies that develop wind power capacity; 3. The degree to which collaborative decision making on the level of communities is allowed and stimulated by the sociopolitical framework.
Community Acceptance:
Historically, the focus within this issue of social acceptance of renewable energy innovation has been on public acceptance as the cornerstone of community acceptance. Community acceptance refers to the specific acceptance of siting decisions and renewable energy projects by local stakeholders, particularly residents and local authorities.
Market Acceptance:
Social acceptance can also be interpreted as market acceptance or as the process of market adoption of an innovative STS.
Significant Attributes Connected to Identity:
Three categories of impact can be distinguished that are discussed in almost any case: landscape, wildlife, and annoyance issues.
Future Directions:
The issue of social acceptance of wind power will come to the fore even more prominent in the coming decades, but the character of acceptance issues in the three dimensions will probably change. The current awareness of the required space for sustainable energy supply is still limited and, hence, the consequences in terms of landscape occupation and potential environmental conflicts are neither fully recognized. The main question of social acceptance will remain how to build sociopolitical and market acceptance for the collaborative way of planning and decision making that is needed. This key to the large number of positive investment and space-making decisions will even become more important because wind power is becoming increasingly part of an all-embracing STS of integrated sustainable energy supply. The new power supply system will have to integrate growing numbers of distributed generation units. The integration of all the components of sustainable power generation, including the mutual fine-tuning and optimization of local supply and demand and possibly with the introduction of local storage capacity must be embedded an intelligent “smart grid”, with many acceptance issues itself — as it runs fully counter to our existing centralized and hierarchically organized power supply system. The social acceptance of wind power will become embedded in the acceptance of all kinds of decisions about this future STS of sustainable energy supply and demand.
... The perception of the impact of a wind turbine is heavily influenced by psycho-social factors such as place attachment , 2009; by distributive and procedural (in) justice (Gross, 2007); by trust (Walker et al., 2010), and by social cohesion (Devine-Wright and Howes, 2010). Other articles have focused on the meso-level and point to more institutional factors, such as citizen involvement, the planning regime and ownership relations, in explaining negative perceptions and protest against the siting of wind turbines (Agterbosch and Breukers, 2008;Agterbosch et al., 2007;Toke et al., 2008). Agterbosch and Breukers (2008) argued that wind turbines are the source of multiple conflicts over interests and meanings. ...
... Other articles have focused on the meso-level and point to more institutional factors, such as citizen involvement, the planning regime and ownership relations, in explaining negative perceptions and protest against the siting of wind turbines (Agterbosch and Breukers, 2008;Agterbosch et al., 2007;Toke et al., 2008). Agterbosch and Breukers (2008) argued that wind turbines are the source of multiple conflicts over interests and meanings. The implementation of wind power eventually depends on the outcomes of these struggles. ...
... The decision-making process was not open to alternatives and mitigation measures, which are crucial aspects of an independent environmental impact assessment. The importance of procedural and distributive justice during the siting of wind farms has been addressed in numerous studies (Agterbosch and Breukers, 2008;Barry and Ellis, 2011;Breukers and Wolsink, 2007;Cowell et al., 2011;Devine-Wright, 2011;Gross, 2007;Loring, 2007). ...
In this article we analyse how protests against wind farms reflect symbolic distances or alienations, typical to Flanders (Belgium), as consequences of wider societal trends. A thorough qualitative study of three wind farm projects in Flanders, including group discussions and interviews with crucial stakeholders, shows that the current siting process reinforces disagreements and leads to a stalemate between different framings of the wind farms. Using insights from our case studies and the literature, we argue for spatial planning which strives for a negotiation over acceptable solutions rather than acceptance of fixed proposals.
... We examine this institutional setting through a geographical comparison of onshore wind power developments in the Netherlands, North-Rhine Westphalia and England. The institutional conditions and changes in the domains of energy policy, spatial planning and environmental policy are compared, including how these influenced the implementation of wind power in each case ( Breukers and Wolsink, 2003;Agterbosch and Breukers, 2008). A crucial dimension of the institutional context is how key actors with different interests (including those who reject or only conditionally support wind power) perceive the realization of wind power projects. ...
... The following set of factors is relevant for the comparison of the three international cases: A: Arrangements within the policy domains of energy and environment-differences in institutional arrangements and in the structures of the policy sectors affect the opportunities for the implementation of sustainable energy ( Szarka 2006;Breukers, 2007). B: The role, position and objectives of existing energy companies-in the case of the Netherlands, these held a gatekeeper role for more than a decade ( Wolsink 1996), whereas the German government forced them to accept competition from third parties ( Agterbosch and Breukers, 2008). The latter factor is an essential feature of the success of the German "electricity feed-in" legislation ("Stromeinspeisungsgesetz") and the Renewable Energies Act ("Erneuerbare Energien Gesetz") which effectively stimulated third parties to invest in wind turbines ( Wüstenhagen and Bilharz, 2006). ...
How have institutional conditions affected policy and planning processes for wind energy implementation? This is the research question of multiple-cases study (England, North Rhine Westphalia, Netherlands) focusing upon Institutional Capacity building as a key to (strong) ecological modernization. Among those conditions are prevailing routines and patterns of thought, which are analysed in this paper. The actors' framings of policy, market, local, civil society, were mapped using Q methodology, a technique that has a growing range of application in fields (e.g. psychology, medicine, political science, geography) were the systematic influence of value patterns on perspectives and assessments are significant and a research topic as such. Core beliefs on wind power implementation are distinguished, regarding policy, planning, market development, environmental issues, assumed 'backyard' attitudes, ownership, etc. These beliefs are associated with the large differences in institutional capacity in the three geographical cases.
... For that dimension, a participatory stakeholder dialogue can be useful, as it reveals and confronts different underlying stakeholder perspectives. Successful innovation requires a certain level of commitment, support or at least acceptance by relevant societal stakeholders [17], which depends on the extent to which stakeholders manage to align their diverging expectations, needs and interests. Participatory stakeholder dialogue method can support such processes of alignment and in doing so, future options and solutions can be explored. ...
... Proposed by Boudewijn Klaversteijn (WinWays Innovation).4 The Cramer Commission[17] developed the following indicators for sustainable biomass for energy: (1) reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, (2) competition with food/feed production, (3) biodiversity, (4) (other) environmental impacts, (5) social and economic prosperity, and (6) wellbeing. ...
This paper explores the potential of combining technological innovation systems research with a participatory stakeholder dialogue, using empirical material from a dialogue on the options of sustainable biomass in the Netherlands and several historical studies into the emerging Dutch biomass innovation system. These studies identified and analysed functions (key processes) needed for the diffusion of this system. Using the functions as a heuristic to analyse and present this material, this paper shows that combining both approaches results in a richer understanding of the Dutch biomass innovation system. Where innovation systems research has not inquired in-depth into the normative dimensions of biomass innovation, the dialogue contributes to a better understanding of these. In contrast to systems research where the researcher defines system boundaries, the dialogue allowed system boundaries to be defined along the process in a bottom-up manner. This resulted in different ideas about challenges and opportunities. Where dialogue discussions were based on somewhat anecdotal information, biomass innovation systems research provided a historical and systemic contextualisation. Furthermore, the functions served as useful categories to explore future sustainable biomass options. We conclude that triangulation, using both historic and participatory methods, provides more insight, in terms of both range and depth, in the actual functioning of innovation systems and opportunities for improvement.
... The scope of public participation approaches in the United States is, in general, remarkably broader than in the German EIA/ SEA processes and, in general, involvement starts significantly earlier in the process. The tradition of public participation in German planning and project permitting does not go far beyond formal consultation on ready-made plans, which was stated by Agterbosch and Breukers (2008) for the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia [59]. With proposed legislation introducing rules that agencies shall promote the use of early public participation even before the formal permitting process starts, the German legislator in early 2012 tried to react to accelerating criticism of the current practice of public involvement (draft Gesetz zur Verbesserung der Öffentlichkeitsbeteiligung und Vereinheitlichung von Planfeststellungsverfahren of February 2012). ...
... The scope of public participation approaches in the United States is, in general, remarkably broader than in the German EIA/ SEA processes and, in general, involvement starts significantly earlier in the process. The tradition of public participation in German planning and project permitting does not go far beyond formal consultation on ready-made plans, which was stated by Agterbosch and Breukers (2008) for the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia [59]. With proposed legislation introducing rules that agencies shall promote the use of early public participation even before the formal permitting process starts, the German legislator in early 2012 tried to react to accelerating criticism of the current practice of public involvement (draft Gesetz zur Verbesserung der Öffentlichkeitsbeteiligung und Vereinheitlichung von Planfeststellungsverfahren of February 2012). ...
Wind energy development is booming worldwide with Germany and the United States being forerunners in installed capacity. Based on a review of relevant laws and regulations, policy, siting, and permitting documents, academic literature, and expert interviews, the paper compares the permit and environmental impact assessment (IA) policies and regulations pertaining to wind energy projects in both countries. The focus is on the potential of IAs in supporting an environmentally conscious development of wind power generation. This includes the analysis of IA regulations on the project level, strategic level impact assessment and planning processes, opportunities for public involvement and transparency of processes, and the clarity and predictability of the IA provisions. The findings suggest certain variations between both countries' permit and IA processes for wind energy projects and further research needs, inter alia on the actual effects of strategic assessment of wind development on subsequent permitting.
... We examine this institutional setting through a geographical comparison of onshore wind power developments in the Netherlands, North-Rhine Westphalia and England. The institutional conditions and changes in the domains of energy policy, spatial planning and environmental policy are compared, including how these influenced the implementation of wind power in each case (Breukers and Wolsink, 2003;Agterbosch and Breukers, 2008). A crucial dimension of the institutional context is how key actors with different interests (including those who reject or only conditionally support wind power) perceive the realization of wind power projects. ...
... A: Arrangements within the policy domains of energy and environment -differences in institutional arrangements and in the structures of the policy sectors affect the opportunities for the implementation of sustainable energy (Szarka 2006;Breukers, 2007). B: The role, position and objectives of existing energy companies -in the case of the Netherlands, these held a gatekeeper role for more than a decade (Wolsink 1996), whereas the German government forced them to accept competition from third parties (Agterbosch and Breukers, 2008). The latter factor is an essential feature of the success of the German "electricity feed-in" legislation ("Stromeinspeisungsgesetz") and the Renewable Energies Act ("Erneuerbare Energien Gesetz") which effectively stimulated third parties to invest in wind turbines (Wüstenhagen and Bilharz, 2006). ...
This paper analyses patterns in beliefs about the implementation of wind power as part of a geographical comparison of onshore wind power developments in the Netherlands, North-Rhine Westphalia and England. Q methodology is applied, in order to systematically compare the patterns in stakeholder views on the institutional conditions and changes in the domains of energy policy, spatial planning and environmental policy. Three factors represent support for wind power implementation from fundamentally different perspectives. The fourth perspective is critical opposed to wind power developments as well as critical to the manner in which wind projects are proposed, planned and implemented. These four perspectives exist across the geographical cases; however, some perspectives are prominent in one case and marginal in another. This relates to different legacies and varying implementation achievements in the three cases. The analysis shows that an approach that focuses on implementing as much wind power as possible, relying on technocratic reasoning and hierarchical policies is in practice the least successful, whereas collaborative perspectives with more emphasis on local issues and less on the interests of the conventional energy sector were particularly dominant in the most successful case, North-Rhine Westphalia.
... In the Netherlands, none of the perspectives was dominant, reflecting a lack of learning and inconsistent policy, as will be illustrated by the conclusions of the example project case. In Germany, hardly any opposition to wind projects existed because a framework was created favoured civil and local shareholding, while at the same time also promoting their increased involvement (Agterbosch and Breukers, 2008). Citizens' projects and other private developments were strongly stimulated by the opportunities to feed wind-generated electricity into the grid at a reasonable price. ...
... The creation of this kind of framework requires clear socio-political acceptance among government agencies and actors in the energy markets and spatial planning realm, of necessary policy measures. The wind power policy in the Netherlands has been very inconsistent over more than two decades (Breukers and Wolsink, 2007) and the socio-political acceptance of effective policy has clearly been far below the level of, for example, Germany (Agterbosch and Breukers, 2008). ...
The construction of new infrastructure is hotly contested. This paper presents a comparative study on three environmental policy domains in the Netherlands that all deal with legitimising building and locating infrastructure facilities. Such infrastructure is usually declared essential to environmental policy and claimed to serve sustainability goals. They are considered to serve (proclaimed) public interests, while the adverse impact or risk that mainly concerns environmental values as well is concentrated at a smaller scale, for example in local communities. The social acceptance of environmental policy infrastructure is institutionally determined. The institutional capacity for learning in infrastructure decision-making processes in the following three domains is compared:
... In addition, more inclusive participation is better able to deliver equity in decision making (see, for example, Kakonge, 1996;O'Faircheallaigh, 2010;Petts, 2003;Shepherd and Bowler, 1997;Sinclair and Fitzpatrick, 2002;Wiklund, 2011). It is widely recognised that the timing of the participation is crucial in order to facilitate deliberation, with early participation, as encompassed in the Arhus Convention (UNECE, 1998) being an essential precondition of a legitimate process (Agterbosch and Breukers, 2008). ...
Game theory provides a useful theoretical framework to examine the decision process operating in the context of environmental assessment, and to examine the rationality and legitimacy of decision-making subject to Environmental Assessment (EA). The research uses a case study of the Environmental Impact Assessment and Sustainability Appraisal processes undertaken in England. To these are applied an analytical framework, based on the concept of decision windows to identify the decisions to be assessed. The conditions for legitimacy are defined, based on game theory, in relation to the timing of decision information, the behaviour type (competitive, reciprocal, equity) exhibited by the decision maker, and the level of public engagement; as, together, these control the type of rationality which can be brought to bear on the decision. Instrumental rationality is based on self-interest of individuals, whereas deliberative rationality seeks broader consensus and is more likely to underpin legitimate decisions. The results indicate that the Sustainability Appraisal process, conducted at plan level, is better than EIA, conducted at project level, but still fails to provide conditions that facilitate legitimacy. Game theory also suggests that Sustainability Appraisal is likely to deliver ‘least worst’ outcomes rather than best outcomes when the goals of the assessment process are considered; this may explain the propensity of such ‘least worst’ decisions in practise. On the basis of what can be learned from applying this game theory perspective, it is suggested that environmental assessment processes need to be redesigned and better integrated into decision making in order to guarantee the legitimacy of the decisions made.
... Therefore, policy makers often rely on incumbents to foster new technologies. Agterbosch and Breukers (2008), for instance, show that Dutch policy makers relied on incumbents (e.g. large utilities) to drive wind power until the end of the 1990s. ...
doi: 10.1080/09537320802292982
... As in Denmark, new entrants, including farmers and small, community-owned projects, were actively encouraged. In NRW, policy tools included granting access to the electricity grid for smaller scale generators and providing revenue streams in the form of preferential 'feed-in' tariffs, or stromeinspeisungsgesetz (Agterbosch andBreukers 2008: 639, Klaassen et al. 2005: 229-230). By contrast, in the Netherlands, wind energy policy tended to favour large incumbent energy companies over independent entrepreneurs. ...
Environmental policies to promote environmentally sustainable economic activity have often concentrated on larger firms. However, increasing attention is being paid to the role of small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurial actors. In this paper, we examine how policy tools are being used to improve the environmental performance of SMEs and to redirect entrepreneurial energies in more environmentally benign directions. The empirical section adopts a case‐based comparative method to examine four instances of policymaking, drawn from different countries and industry sectors. The paper argues that while some interventions have proved effective in their own terms, better integrated approaches are required to address today's complex and deep‐rooted sustainability challenges. The paper identifies several policy implications including the need to: clarify the purpose of any intervention, address potential interactions and trade‐offs; select appropriate tools based on informed reviews of the options; remain sensitive to context‐specific factors; and devise effective vehicles for the promotion and governance of entrepreneurial initiatives.
... In particular, researchers have promoted local stakeholder inclusion during the siting of wind farms, largely as a means of bridging the divide between national environmental objectives and local concerns (Blá zquez García et al., 2003;Khan, 2004;Jobert et al., 2007;Söderholm et al., 2007;Wolsink, 2007;Wüstenhagen et al., 2007;Agterbosch et al., 2009). Some have suggested that it would be appropriate to institutionalize participation in energy development policy frameworks in order to enhance the likelihood of acceptance at the local level (Breukers and Wolsink, 2007;Wüstenhagen et al., 2007;Agterbosch and Breukers, 2008;Agterbosch et al., 2009). ...
The need for governments to reduce the exposure of energy consumers to future increases in fossil fuel prices places urgent pressure on policy-makers to deliver fundamental transformations in energy strategies, particularly in jurisdictions with high dependency on fossil fuel sources (Dorian et al., 2006). This transformation is unlikely without a high level of stakeholder engagement in the policy development process. This paper describes two policy development processes recently undertaken in Nova Scotia in which the inclusion of stakeholder views was central to the approach. The first delivered a new institutional framework for electricity energy efficiency involving the inception of an independent performance-based administrator. The second required the delivery of a strategy to significantly increase renewable energy generation in the Province. It involved recommendations for changes in institutional arrangements, financial incentives and technological options. This process was followed by new commitments to renewable energy developments, new infrastructure for the importation of hydro-electricity, and the announcement of FITs for ocean energy. In both cases, recommendations were made by an independent academic institution, and the Government responded directly to a majority of recommendations. The paper concludes with a discussion of lessons learned and the implications for future energy policy making in carbon-intensive jurisdictions.
The success of wind power development in Northern Friesland (Germany) is mainly due to its ‘citizen wind parks’. However, their historical emergence, as well as their astonishing scale-up from small to large wind farms, is little understood from the inside. Following the critical approach of assemblage thinking, this paper’s proposal is to revise the notion of ‘assembly’ to investigate collective processes of ‘attunement’. The paper stresses the practical work of valuating ‘things’ and making them commensurable in the light of the relations (inherited practices, place attachments, project perspectives) grounded in a place. This approach makes it possible to identify the ways in which assemblies from Northern Friesland have negotiated and transformed an inherited landscape into a shared wind power landscape. We call this activity in which local assemblies engage ‘a polity’. Finally, we illustrate the term’s conceptual potential by discussing its scope and links to techniques of power that follow from environmental ‘governmentality’.
With the increasing challenges the energy sector faces, energy policy strategies and instruments are becoming ever more relevant. The discipline of policy studies might offer relevant concepts to enrich multidisciplinary energy research. The main research question of this article is: How can policy studies contribute to multidisciplinary energy research, and in how far does research on energy policy actually use the concepts of policy studies? The article presents key theoretical concepts from the discipline of policy studies and shows how they can be of use in multidisciplinary energy research. This is illustrated by presenting the results of a systematic review of academic literature on the use of policy studies concepts in academic literature on energy policy in The Netherlands. Results reveal the main theoretical concepts that were used as well as the identification of major research clusters. Results also show that many concepts from policy studies were actually integrated into eclectic theoretical frameworks.
Executive Summary
Renewable energy can provide a host of benefits to society. In addition to the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, governments have enacted renewable energy (RE) policies to meet a number of objectives including the creation of local environmental and health benefits; facilitation of energy access, particularly for rural areas; advancement of energy security goals by diversifying the portfolio of energy technologies and resources; and improving social and economic development through potential employment opportunities. Energy access and social and economic development have been the primary drivers in developing countries whereas ensuring a secure energy supply and environmental concerns have been most important in developed countries.
An increasing number and variety of RE policies–motivated by a variety of factors–have driven substantial growth of RE technologies in recent years. Government policies have played a crucial role in accelerating the deployment of RE technologies. At the same time, not all RE policies have proven effective and efficient in rapidly or substantially increasing RE deployment. The focus of policies is broadening from a concentration almost entirely on RE electricity to include RE heating and cooling and transportation.
RE policies have promoted an increase in RE capacity installations by helping to overcome various barriers. Barriers specific to RE policymaking (e.g., a lack of information and awareness), to implementation (e.g., a lack of an educated and trained workforce to match developing RE technologies) and to financing (e.g., market failures) may further impede deployment of RE.
This Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report (IPCC-SRREN) assesses the potential role of renewable energy in the mitigation of climate change. It covers the six most important renewable energy sources - bioenergy, solar, geothermal, hydropower, ocean and wind energy - as well as their integration into present and future energy systems. It considers the environmental and social consequences associated with the deployment of these technologies, and presents strategies to overcome technical as well as non-technical obstacles to their application and diffusion. SRREN brings a broad spectrum of technology-specific experts together with scientists studying energy systems as a whole. Prepared following strict IPCC procedures, it presents an impartial assessment of the current state of knowledge: it is policy relevant but not policy prescriptive. SRREN is an invaluable assessment of the potential role of renewable energy for the mitigation of climate change for policymakers, the private sector, and academic researchers.
This paper seeks to explore the issues of innovation and new path creation in the UK and Germany, illustrated through the case of the modern wind power industry. Taking an evolutionary perspective drawing on path dependence theory, the paper examines the role of niche environments in the creation of new economic pathways. The research finds that new economic pathways are more likely to develop in places where niche conditions provide receptive environments for innovations to flourish. The policy implications of the research include the importance of supporting niche environments that encourage growth in new sectors and the need for financial support to bring innovations to market, to encourage the development of new economic pathways.
The 2013 International Sustainability Transitions (IST) conference in Zürich, Switzerland brought together more than two hundred researchers in this emerging field of research. This special section features five selected conference papers that address novel topics or approaches and raise critical questions with regard to the development of the field. One is a plenary lecture while the other four where finalists for the IST2013 prize for the best conference paper. Although these papers were selected from a rather limited set of finished papers (about 50), they can serve as potential sensors for current developments and upcoming topics in transition studies. In this introduction, we briefly explain how the papers were selected and summarize their contents. We derive lessons for further research and connect these to current lines of research in the field.
In this paper, a positive organizational ethics (POE)-based framework is informed by the microfinance and socially responsible investing movements to capture the process of sustainable financial innovations. Both of these movements are uniquely characterized by the formation of positive ethical networks (PENs) to develop sustainability innovations in response to external crises. The crisis–PEN–innovation framework proposed makes four contributions to the POE literature: (1) positions corporate sustainability through a POE lens; (2) formalizes the PEN construction through POE theory; (3) proposes PENs are mobilized to respond to external crises; and (4) demonstrates how PENs facilitate sustainability innovations. The theoretical framework is tested using theory-guided process tracing in the sustainable banking sector to understand how sustainability innovations were realized. The findings are consistent with the crisis–PEN–innovation framework proposed.
In this paper, we examine the ways in which the phenomenon of entrepreneurial agency has been represented in the transitions literature with particular reference to purposive sustainability transitions. The aim of the paper is to encourage critical reflection on the relationship between transitions and entrepreneurship research. We present provisional findings from a content analysis conducted on sample publications, covering historical transitional and contemporary purposive transitions. We find that while entrepreneurial agency is clearly evident in both conceptual and empirical works, there are a number of limitations regarding: i) the role of context in relation to the dynamics of entrepreneurial agency; ii) differences in the types of entrepreneurs engaged in socio-technical transitions and the ways in which they interact with other key actors; iii) the predominantly individualistic interpretation accorded to entrepreneurship in the literature. We also review recent developments in entrepreneurship research, including work on: entrepreneurial opportunity, dynamic capabilities, networks and institutions, and indicate how these ideas might be integrated into transitions research, with reference to two sample studies. In the concluding remarks, we suggest ways in which a closer engagement with entrepreneurial agency might contribute to future transitions research and policy-making.
Governments and utility organizations around the world have mandated and provided incentives for new distributed renewable energy generation (DREG) capacity, and market projections indicate strong growth in distributed renewable energy generation installations in the coming years. New distributed renewable energy generation utilities, by definition, will be primarily located in built environments near consumers; these utilities are often planned and designed by landscape architects, yet no evidence-based, distributed renewable energy generation research is explicitly done by landscape architects or recognizes the role landscape architects play in planning and designing these spaces. The research and analysis provided by this study indicates that distributed renewable energy generation lacks a strong foundation as an independent concept which could benefit from clear broad phraseology linked to organized sub-terms/phrases for specific forms of DREG, that there has been some research done on topics familiar to landscape architects, that more needs to be done to meet important research questions and recommendations already posed, and that landscape architects are positioned to contribute to future distributed renewable energy generation research.
The aim of this book is to specify this perspective by analysing patterns of change in the electricity system. Scientifically, the relevance of the book is in its analysis and explanation of fundamental processes of change, a topic relevant for a range of scientific disciplines, from economics, sociology, technology studies, to policy science. Its societal relevance lies mainly in its use for gaining insight in the way systems change can be directed towards the normative goal of sustainable development.
In many countries, the development of wind power capacity has proceeded more slowly than expected. Levels of public acceptance are usually considered primary indicators of support for wind power within society. Surveys generally show strong overall public support for wind power, while concrete projects are felt to suffer from the Not-In-My-Backyard (NIMBY) syndrome. This paper questions the significance of these outcomes. It argues that other barriers to wind power implementation exist beyond attitudes among the population. The argument is made that institutional factors have a greater impact on wind energy facility siting. We will discuss two examples of how institutional factors shape the level of support when implementing wind power
Large-scale social and political changes have revolutionized policy-making. Traditionally, policy analysis has been state-centered, based on the assumption that central government is self-evidently the locus of government. However, policy-making is often carried out today in loosely organized networks of public authorities, citizen associations and private enterprises. The contributors to this book argue that democratic governance now calls for a new deliberatively-oriented policy analysis. They provide examples from around the world to demonstrate how this would work in practice.
This paper aims to understand different outcomes of implementation of wind power deployment programmes. Geographical variables such as quantity of wind resources are in themselves insufficient to explain patterns of implementation of wind power. To enhance the review of the factors affecting wind power deployment we also made a systematic comparison of six country cases: Denmark, Spain, Germany, Scotland, the Netherlands, and England/Wales. The impact of four key institutional variables is examined and put into a scheme of a set of potential hypothesis about their inter-relationships. These are influenced by different national traditions: planning systems; financial support mechanisms; landscape protection organisations and patterns of ownership of wind power. (1) Planning systems, which favour wind power are essential, and in all cases national planning policies generally intend to support wind power development, but planning institutions show a wide variety with clear differences in implementation results. (2) Systems of financial support are also a sine qua non for development but they also vary in their effectiveness across country and time in the study. Robust and consistent support regimes in Denmark, Germany and Spain have speeded developments. (3) Landscape protection organisations vary in strength in a range between England/Wales (very strong and influential) to Spain (non-existent). Strong and effective opposition to wind developments is always primarily rooted in landscape values. (4) Local ownership patterns coincide with higher rates of wind power deployment than remote, corporate ownership. Local involvement recruits conditional support for projects and is related to traditions of energy activism. Such traditions are strongest in Denmark and Germany and weakest in Spain, England/Wales and Scotland.
The main issues related to successful implementation policies concern the socio-economic institutions that are conditional to planning in the energy policy domain, but also in the domain of spatial planning. Successful investments and the siting of renewable power plants eventually determine the success rate of national efforts in establishing renewable capacity. Central planning usually has several objectives and these often have a detrimental effect on the goal of renewable energy application. Current problems related to implementation decisions concerning wind power schemes are an example to those who will be faced by other renewable power plants, notably biomass.Regarding community acceptance of wind power schemes, the visual evaluation of the impact of wind power on the values of the landscape is by far the most dominant factor in explaining opposition or support. Type of landscape fully overshadows other attitudinal attributes, as well as other visual and scenic factors such as the design of wind turbines and wind farms, and the number and the size of turbines. Planning regimes and decision-making practices that really enhance the implementation processes of renewable energy require ‘strong’ ecological modernization. This means institutional changes that create involvement and trust of actors at the actual implementation level. Local opposition cannot be explained by the egotistical motives of local residents. When the inclination to behave according to (supposed) backyard motives is investigated, the scale to measure this phenomenon appears to indicate commitment to equity issues and fairness of decision-making. Hence, for wind power, local involvement to represent the local values of site-specific landscapes is crucial. For other renewables the source-specific features are different, but conflicts can be expected as well because the fairness of implementation decisions will be equally significant.
To arrest climate change, a transition to a low-carbon economy must take place quite rapidly, within a century at most. Thus, the rate of diffusion of new technologies such as those for the generation of electricity from renewable energy sources becomes a central issue. This article explores the reasons for the particularly rapid spread of two such technologies in Germany, wind turbines and solar cells. We trace this diffusion to the nature of the policy instruments employed and to the political process which led to the adoption of these instruments. The analysis demonstrates how the regulatory framework is formed in a ‘battle over institutions’ where the German parliament, informed and supported by an advocacy coalition of growing strength, backed support policies for renewables sourced electricity against often reluctant governments and the opposition from nuclear and coal interests. It also demonstrates that this major political and environmental achievement carries a modest price if we consider total costs to society, i.e. including both subsidies to coal and the negative external economies of coal.
The primary social factors for the implementation of wind energy projects in a liberalized market are entrepreneurs willing to invest. Understanding conditions that trigger entrepreneurs to invest in these projects, and understanding conditions that determine the chance of success for entrepreneurs to implement and exploit their projects, is vital for setting up effective policies to stimulate wind electricity generation. This paper analyses the way in which wind power entrepreneurs and local civil servants experience social and institutional conditions in the operational process of realizing wind power projects, and their perceptions of policy implications. A groups support system in an electronic board room was used to analyze the perceptions. From the analysis it was concluded that wind power entrepreneurs and civil servants share the opinion that the institutionally embedded power position of local politicians, and the sensitiveness of the local political debate for the popular opinion are most critical for project realization. With regard to the proposed solutions, both groups differ in their approach. Entrepreneurs stress procedural solutions, such as limiting the possibilities to appeal, reducing the complexity of the formal authorization trajectory and using a top down planning approach. Civil servants stress more strategic solutions, such as providing more public information on the necessity of wind power for local politicians and citizens, and community involvement in planning processes. Finally, the analysis explains that steering strategies that have been developed at the national level to solve the planning problems at the operational level do not address the right problems.
In order to understand diverging achievements in wind power implementation, the Netherlands, England, and the German state of North Rhine Westphalia are compared in a multiple cases study. The comparison addresses the extent to which wind power, as a new energy technology, has become embedded in existing routines and practices of society. The concept of institutional capacity building is adopted to qualify the trajectories followed, taking into account the interdependent and changing political, economic, environmental and planning conditions. Moreover, attention is focused on the conditions that affect the local planning contexts, because that is the level at which conflicts are eventually played out and where a lack of social acceptance becomes manifest. This comparison partly clarifies diverging achievements in terms of implementation. Local social acceptance is problematic—to various degrees—in all three cases. Policymakers and wind project developers do not sufficiently recognise the nature of tensions at the local level. Facilitating local ownership and institutionalising participation in project planning can help to arrive at a better recognition and involvement of the multiple interests (environmental, economic and landscape) that are relevant at the local level of implementation.
The article explores the intersections between the different perspectives of institutional and policy research and discusses the characteristic purposes and conditions of theory-oriented policy research, where the usefulness of statistical analyses is generally constrained by the complexity and contingency of causal influences. Although comparative case studies are better able to deal with these conditions, their capacity to empirically identify the causal effect of differing institutional conditions on policy outcomes depends on a restrictive case selection that would need to hold constant the influence of two other sets of contingent factors—the policy challenges actually faced and the preferences and perceptions of the actors involved. When this is not possible, empirical policy research may usefully resort to a set of institutionalist working hypotheses that are derived from the narrowly specified theoretical assumptions of rational-choice institutionalism. Although these hypotheses will often be wrong, they are useful in guiding the empirical search for factors that are able to explain policy outcomes that deviate from predictions of the rationalist model.
The central idea of this paper is that innovation systems are a very important determinant of technological change. We describe that the emergence of a new innovation system and changes in existing innovation systems co-evolve with the process of technological change. Therefore, it is necessary to create more insight in the dynamics of innovation systems. Traditional methods of innovation system analysis that mainly focus on the
structure of innovation systems have proven to be insufficient. Therefore, we propose a framework that focuses on a number of processes that are highly important for well performing innovation systems. These processes are labeled as 'functions of innovation systems'. After explaining this framework and embedding it in existing
literature, we propose a method for systematically mapping those processes taking place in innovation systems and resulting in technological change. This method can be characterized as a process analysis or history event analysis. Clarifying examples are taken from the empirical field of Sustainable Technology Development.
The research question of this paper is how institutional conditions affected policy and planning processes for wind energy implementation. This is studied from the perspective of building institutional capacity in order to start policy learning. Implementation in the Netherlands has been ponderous, due to an emphasis on centralised policy-making, and an underestimation of issues of spatial and environmental planning and problems of local acceptance. Over time, little support has been mobilised for wind power developments, and resistance has increased. Nevertheless, as an unintended consequence of liberalisation, locally owned wind projects have accelerated implementation achievements in recent years.
Environmental policy in its broadest context has been significantly revitalized and renewed during the last two decades. That observation is nothing new, attested to by the number of publications, conferences and both private and public projects that have been initiated. However, our understanding of the dynamics of this renewal has generally been informed by studies on single policies and projects, leaving us with a limited understanding of what the ‘newness’ consists of in terms of an integrated perspective.
This book presents fresh analyses of a number of well-known cases, but does so from one comprehensive view, the so-called policy arrangement approach. Cases discussed range over organic farming, integrated water management, nature policy, cultural heritage policy, integrated region-oriented policy, corporate environmental management and target group policy, always in search of the commonality of experience and conclusions to be drawn in understanding the past and in formulating future perspectives.
A major conclusion can be summarised as ‘lots of dynamics, not much change’. The observed dynamics mainly result from discursive innovations and from the entrance of new actors and stakeholders. Stability of new undertakings is provided by established power relations and other pre-existing institutional structures. In this interplay of dynamics and stability, ‘deep’ policy change has rarely been found. Government still remains more important than governance. At the same time, though, societal developments such as Europeanisation, globalisation and individualisation, are tending to both reveal the need for, and induce steps toward, more fundamental changes. Traces of such movement are indeed observable, if less dramatic than expected.
The dynamics of Technological Innovation Systems (TIS) approach are discussed with the help of case studies of biomass energy conversion technologies in the Netherlands and Germany. The approach generates a number of key processes, known as System Functions, in order to drive the development of new technology. These functions help to structure the vast amount of data and highlight crucial stages within the case studies by using graphical representations. The TIS approach also provides knowledge essential to accelerate the diffusion of renewable energy in both countries by identifying basic factors that incite or hamper the development, distribution, and implementation of biomass energy technologies. The approach provides a clear understanding of interactions between structural changes of the institutional framework and Innovation System activities to aid in long-term policy developed by the governments. The government need to focus on removing barriers that block virtuous cycles and to accelerate the further development of existing virtuous cycles including market formation.
This international comparative study provides insight in the political-institutional conditions that have impeded and encouraged onshore wind power implementation in the Netherlands, England and the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The extent to which wind power, as a new energy technology, has become embedded in existing routines and practices (institutions) of society, differs between the cases. North Rhine-Westphalia, which is most successful in terms of installed capacity, is also most successful in terms of social acceptance of wind power. Wind power developments started in the form of grass-roots initiatives in which many citizens participated. Over time, in North Rhine-Westphalia, wind power became embedded as an environmentally preferable energy source, as a new economic sector, and as a socially acceptable alternative to conventional energy generation. In the other cases, the historical trajectories have been different and less successful.
▪ Abstract This article provides an overview of recent developments in historical institutionalism. First, it reviews some distinctions that are commonly drawn between the “historical” and the “rational choice” variants of institutionalism and shows that there are more points of tangency than typically assumed. However, differences remain in how scholars in the two traditions approach empirical problems. The contrast of rational choice's emphasis on institutions as coordination mechanisms that generate or sustain equilibria versus historical institutionalism's emphasis on how institutions emerge from and are embedded in concrete temporal processes serves as the foundation for the second half of the essay, which assesses our progress in understanding institutional formation and change. Drawing on insights from recent historical institutional work on “critical junctures” and on “policy feedbacks,” the article proposes a way of thinking about institutional evolution and path dependency that provides an alter...
Researchers use different approaches for assessing technologies. We develop this proposition by examining differences in approaches that ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ use in their assessment of health care technologies. We also illustrate how the juxtaposition of these contrasting approaches creates a dynamic technological field and impacts technology selection.
In the last decade ‘sectoral systems of innovation’ have emerged as a new approach in innovation studies. This article makes four contributions to the approach by addressing some open issues. The first contribution is to explicitly incorporate the user side in the analysis. Hence, the unit of analysis is widened from sectoral systems of innovation to socio-technical systems. The second contribution is to suggest an analytical distinction between systems, actors involved in them, and the institutions which guide actor’s perceptions and activities. Thirdly, the article opens up the black box of institutions, making them an integral part of the analysis. Institutions should not just be used to explain inertia and stability. They can also be used to conceptualise the dynamic interplay between actors and structures. The fourth contribution is to address issues of change from one system to another. The article provides a coherent conceptual multi-level perspective, using insights from sociology, institutional theory and innovation studies. The perspective is particularly useful to analyse long-term dynamics, shifts from one socio-technical system to another and the co-evolution of technology and society.
In order to forecast the technological development and cost of wind turbines and the production costs of wind electricity, frequent use is made of the so-called experience curve concept. Experience curves of wind turbines are generally based on data describing the development of national markets, which cause a number of problems when applied for global assessments. To analyze global wind energy price development more adequately, we compose a global experience curve. First, underlying factors for past and potential future price reductions of wind turbines are analyzed. Also possible implications and pitfalls when applying the experience curve methodology are assessed. Second, we present and discuss a new approach of establishing a global experience curve and thus a global progress ratio for the investment cost of wind farms. Results show that global progress ratios for wind farms may lie between 77% and 85% (with an average of 81%), which is significantly more optimistic than progress ratios applied in most current scenario studies and integrated assessment models. While the findings are based on a limited amount of data, they may indicate faster price reduction opportunities than so far assumed. With this global experience curve we aim to improve the reliability of describing the speed with which global costs of wind power may decline.
This dissertation focuses on wind energy for electricity generation, analysing the evolution of the wind power supply market in the Netherlands. We analysed different kind of wind power entrepreneurs (energy distributors, small private investors, wind cooperatives and new independent wind power producers), their capacity to implement wind energy and the social and institutional conditions that affected their investments over the period 1989-2004. Central in the analyses are the institutional regulatory dimension and the social context as explanatory variables for the emergence and performance of these wind power entrepreneurs. Special attention is given to the liberalisation of the electricity market. The primary social actors for the implementation of wind energy projects in a liberalised market are entrepreneurs willing to invest. Understanding conditions that trigger entrepreneurs to invest in these projects, and understanding conditions that determine the chance of success for entrepreneurs to implement and exploit their projects, is vital for setting up effective policies to stimulate wind electricity generation. The analytical perspective that we used to study investment behaviour of wind power entrepreneurs and their capacity to implement wind energy can be referred to as the ‘new institutional perspective’. Based on this new institutional perspective the concept of implementation capacity has been developed. Implementation capacity indicates the feasibility for wind power entrepreneurs to adopt wind turbines, and enables to explain, comparatively, changing possibilities in time for different types of entrepreneurs. The development of the wind power supply market is divided into three successive market periods: Monopoly powers (1989-1995), Interbellum (1996-1997) and Free market (1998-2002). We conducted case studies on the implementation capacity of the four entrepreneurial groups in each of the three market periods. The case studies led to conclusions about the way in which social and institutional conditions affected the implementation capacity of different types of entrepreneurs in each of these periods. From the analysis it was concluded that no overall implementation capacity exists, and implementation capacities differ for entrepreneurial groups with different entrepreneurial features. The dynamic configuration of institutional and social conditions on different levels of government facilitates some and hinders other types of wind power entrepreneurs, and as a result determines the development and composition of the market. Various parties are dependent on each other in the production of wind energy. At the start of the 1990s the energy distribution companies dominated the market. Later agrarians led the pack and new independent wind power project developers emerged on the scene. According to Agterbosch, in the 1990s government policy focused far too long on large-scale applications by energy companies and ignored the limited motivation of this business group to invest in decentralised and fluctuating assets. The national wind policy also failed to take into account the societal and procedural problems of this business group at the subnational level. The fact that other entrepreneurial groups such as agrarians encountered far fewer problems in realising their projects, did not receive attention at a national level.
An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1994 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association and at a Conference on ‘What is Institutionalism Now?’ at the University of Maryland, October 1994. We would like to acknowledge the hospitality and stimulation that W. Richard Scott, the Stanford Center for Organizations Research, and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences provided while the preliminary work for this paper was being done, and we are grateful to Paul Pierson for many helpful discussions about these issues. For written comments on this earlier draft, we are grateful to Robert Bates, Paul DiMaggio, Frank Dobbin, James Ennis, Barbara Geddes, Peter Gourevitch, Ian Lustick, Cathie Jo Martin, Lisa Martin, Paul Pierson, Mark Pollack, Bo Rothstein, Kenneth Shepsle, Rogers Smith, Marc Smyrl, Barry Weingast, and Deborah Yashar.
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