the renewables portfolio standard in texas an early assessment texas has rapidly emerged as one of the leading wind power markets in the united states this development can be largely traced to a well designed and carefully implemented renewables portfolio standard rps the rps is a new policy mechanism that has received increasing attention as an attractive approach to support renewable power generation though replacing existing renewable energy policies with an as of yet untested approach in the rps is risky early experience from texas suggests that an rps can effectively spur renewables development and encourage competition among renewable energy producers initial rps targets in texas were well exceeded by the end of 2001 with 915 mw of wind installed in that year alone rps compliance costs appear negligible with new wind projects reportedly contracted for well under 3 us cent k wh in part as a result of a 1 7 us cent kwh production tax credit an outstanding wind resource and an rps that is sizable enough to drive project economies of scale obliged retail suppliers have been willing to enter into long term contracts with renewable generators reducing important risks for both the developer and the retail supplier finally the country s first comprehensive renewable energy certificate program has been put into place to monitor and track rps compliance c 2002 published by elsevier science ltd less

an analysis of feed in tariff remuneration models implications for renewable energy investment recent experience from around the world suggests that feed in tariffs fits are the most effective policy to encourage the rapid and sustained deployment of renewable energy there are several different ways to structure a fit policy each with its own strengths and weaknesses this paper presents an overview of seven different ways to structure the remuneration of a fit policy divided into two broad categories those in which remuneration is dependent on the electricity price and those that remain independent from it this paper examines the advantages and disadvantages of these different fit models and concludes with an analysis of these design options with a focus on their implications both for investors and for society

assessing the performance of renewable electricity support instruments abstract the performance of feed in tariffs and tradable certificates is assessed on criteria of efficacy efficiency equity and institutional feasibility in the early stage of transition to an energy system based entirely on renewable energy supplies renewable electricity can only thrive if support takes into account the specific technical economic and political problems which result from embedding this electricity in conventional power systems whose technology organizational structure environmental responsibility and general mission differ profoundly from the emerging renewable based system support schemes need to capture the diversity of power supplies the variable nature of some renewable supplies and their different attributes for the purposes of public policy they must take into account the variety of generators including small decentralized generation emerging in a renewable based system and the new relationships between generators and customers renewable energy policies need a clear point of reference because the incumbent power systems are not sustainable they must adapt to the requirements of the renewable ones not the other way round incumbent systems carry the responsibility of paying the transition something that corresponds best with the polluter pays principle

simultaneous attainment of energy goals by means of green certificates and emission permits abstract we discuss the analytical effects of introducing emission permits and green certificates and the corresponding quotas as regulatory mechanisms to respectively reduce emissions from electricity production and ensure a certain deployment of renewable energy the different case studies in this paper show that both instruments can be used in order to reach an emission goal or a goal of renewable energy however the combination of these instruments and the way they are used is shown to be important for the price faced by consumers it is shown that the effect on the consumer price is not an unambiguous increase with the introduction of a green quota there is a choice between quotas leading to a lower consumer price and quotas leading to a higher consumer price as a result of this it is shown that it is always optimal to reach a renewable energy deployment goal by the use of green certificates however to reach an emission goal it is sometimes most favourable with respect to consumer prices to use green certificates and sometimes to use emission permits

do renewable electricity policies promote renewable electricity generation evidence from panel data using the poisson pseudo maximum likelihood estimation technique this paper evaluates the effects of renewable electricity policies on renewable electricity generation using a large panel dataset that covers 122 countries over the period of 1980 2010 the results suggest that renewable electricity policies play a crucial role in promoting renewable electricity generation but their effectiveness is subject to diminishing returns as the number of policies increases there is also evidence that the effects of renewable electricity policies are more pronounced before 1996 as well as in developed and emerging market countries and the negative policy interaction effect fades with the stage of economic development lastly policy effectiveness varies by the type of renewable electricity policy and energy source only investment incentives and feed in tariffs are found to be effective in promoting the development of all types of renewable energy sources for electricity considered in this paper

european schemes for promoting renewables in liberalised markets abstract the paper describes possibilities and problems for penetration of supply systems based on renewable energy sources in liberalised markets the analysis is based on recent development in eu with different models for support of installations based on renewable energy these include feed in models with guaranteed minimum tariffs tender models for different bands of technologies and green certificates trading models with obligatory consumer quota the paper describes the market situation in selected european countries including germany the uk holland and denmark an eu directive from september 2001 has postponed the decision on a possible harmonisation of promotional models until at least 2005 in order to obtain more practical experience with the different support schemes a critical evaluation is given in this paper of the different models with proposals for a balanced development between environmental and trading concerns it is argued that too much emphasis is presently given to the side of free trade at the expense of long range planning for a sustainable energy development

towards a sustainable electrification in ghana a review of renewable energy deployment policies abstract ghana has been facing perennial power rationing over the years due to fuel supply challenges the country s energy system is likely to suffer additional strain from rising energy demand fueled by population growth rapid urbanization and economic development fortunately there are enormous renewable energy resources which can provide sustainable electrification as backbone to socioeconomic development while curbing global warming ghana s energy strategy targets 100 access to electricity and 10 share of sustainable power in national generation mix by 2020 despite the existence of numerous policies and a renewable energy act current contribution of non conventional renewable energy to electricity generation is less than 1 the right mix of policies to address the unique domestic conditions and achieve its specific development goals remains insufficient this study reviews the regulatory framework financing incentives and other provisions of ghana s renewable energy act it critically examines the policy s strengths weaknesses opportunities and treats based on comparative analysis and lessons drawn from failed and successful implementation of similar policies around the world the study also assesses the impact of policy on project development it was found that the performance of ghana s renewable energy policy on grid connected electricity has been poor compared to its target the fundamental reasons for this unsatisfactory performance may be attributed to partial implementation of policies lack of market driven support schemes lack of pricing policy framework weak grid network limited access to funds and inconsistencies in renewable energy development strategies this study proposes the following countermeasures i ghana should comprehensively harmonize renewable energy regulatory and fiscal policies with domestic electricity pricing regime ii market driven support schemes should be prioritized for cost effectiveness and minimum governmental influence these reforms can help eliminate some of the major barriers to sustainable electrification in ghana while the lessons provide a learning curve for other african countries

renewable energy policies in promoting financing and investment among the east asia summit countries quantitative assessment and policy implications many countries have implemented various policies for renewable energy development ranging from setting power purchase agreements and the legislation of renewable energy requirements to providing incentives and imposing carbon taxes the evaluation of the effectiveness of such policies however is fragmented which raises a need for a comprehensive analysis this paper aims to assess whether and how policies promoting renewable energy investment have achieved the intended goals it employs five broadly defined criteria market uncertainty profitability technology and financial resources to build an index to assess respectively if such policies have helped create a market for renewable energy maximize potential profits reduce risks relating to the investment develop and adopt new technologies and improve the access to financial resources each criterion is reflected by three indicators values of each indicator are converted into ordinal values for analysis the index not only scans comprehensively all relevant renewable energy investment policies in the east asia summit countries but also provides systematic and quantitative measures to compare the effectiveness of policies in these countries with respect to the creation of market the degree of uncertainty the potential of profitability the development and adoption of technology and the accessibility of financial resources

analysis of renewable energy incentives in the latin america and caribbean region the feed in tariff case abstract renewable energy is becoming a priority for latin america and caribbean lac countries because of energy challenges such as demand growth high dependence on imported fossil fuels and climate change as of 2010 12 lac countries have implemented formal targets for renewable energy deployment some of the lac countries namely argentina dominican republic ecuador honduras and nicaragua are using feed in tariffs fits to promote renewables fits are long term guaranteed purchase agreements for green electricity at a price that can provide project developers a reasonable return on investment fits are increasingly popular because if designed well they can mitigate investor risk in renewables this article presents a low risk fit design and then uses this design to benchmark the existing lac region fits

simulating price patterns for tradable green certificates to promote electricity generation from wind abstract this article uses computer simulation to anticipate the price dynamics in a market for tradable green certificates tgcs these markets have been used in europe to promote generation of electricity from renewable resources like wind similar markets have been proposed in the united states of america usa where the certificates are called renewable energy credits recs the certificates are issued to the generating companies for each megawatt hour of renewable electricity generation the companies may sell the certificates in a market and the revenues from certificate sales provide an extra incentive to invest in new generating capacity proponents argue that this market based incentive can be designed to support government mandates for a growing fraction of electricity generation from renewable sources in the usa these mandates are set by the states and are known as renewable portfolio standards rps we simulate the price dynamics of a market designed to support an aggressive mandate for wind generation in the northwestern usa the simulations show that the certificate price climbs rapidly to the cap in the early years after the market opens investors then react to these high prices with construction of new wind capacity after a few years wind generation meets and then exceeds the requirement we show that this pattern appears again and again when the simulations are repeated with wide variations in the estimates of behavioral parameters we use the model to study the impact of different trading strategies by the wind companies and by the distribution companies we also study the simulated market response if the usa adopts the carbon allowance market envisioned in the climate stewardship act the article concludes with recommendations for policy makers involved in tgc market design

renewable energy policies for sustainable development in cambodia in line with sustainable development path electrification with the aid of renewable energy resources is a key element for the developing countries cambodia with almost 85 rural population is one of the countries with high renewable energy resources but at the same time has a low installed capacity in the context of this study the potential and status of sustainable energy generation in cambodia are studied in detail the renewable energy policies strategies and programs are investigated and the implemented projects based on the determined policies are reviewed considering the existing governmental policy of enabling 70 of rural households to reach reliable electricity services by 2030 the renewable energy resources are found as the best option for rural electrification the economic regulatory financial and institutional barriers are shown as the main cause of the significant deviation between the potential and installed capacity it is essential to overcome the challenges in order to achieve a sustainable development in rural electrification in cambodia

a review of trends policies and plans for increasing energy access in ghana abstract the need to secure future energy in the forms of electricity and modern cooking fuels is recognized as critical to achieving the millennium development goals particularly poverty reduction ensuring improved education health water supply and environmental sustainability this paper presents a review of the trends policies plans and programmes for increasing energy access in ghana with primary focus on electricity cooking fuels and renewable energy the paper argues that even though governments over the years have had the provision of energy services high on the national development agenda past and existing policies and plans have not delivered effective results to accelerate energy access especially in the rural and peri urban areas where the services are badly needed the paper therefore calls for a coherent national energy policy with inputs from a wider section of the public that has precise targets and clearly laid down strategies including financing mechanisms to achieve the targets

malaysia s renewable energy policies and programs with green aspects malaysia as a developing country and a member of the association of southeast asian nations asean is looking into inexhaustible and repeatable alternative energy sources such as solar wind mini hydro and biomass the estimated gdp at 2010 is 15 385 per capita and the economic and industrial growth of the country implies that energy demand is growing very fast in addition the growing prices of fossil fuels and greenhouse gas ghg emissions make inevitable renewable energy solutions for the country geographically malaysia is located in a region of tropical and humid climate which provides easy access to a variety of renewable energy sources the government of malaysia has initiated renewable energy policies to encourage industries and individuals to employ renewable energy powered systems in power applications this paper first gives a brief overview of the current status of renewable energy in malaysia then it provides the energy policies specifically the renewable energy policies in malaysia in section 2 the renewable energy programs are reviewed in section 3 the building energy efficiency program with green aspect is provided in section 4 lastly the conclusion and forecasts of this paper are

fixed feed in tariff versus premium a review of the current spanish system a b s t r a c t since 1998 the spanish government established a feed in system where res e generators could choose between two alternatives fixed feed in tariff and premium nowadays all res e 1 can be sold in the electricity market getting an additional premium except for solar photovoltaic one important novelty established in 2007 is a cap and floor system for facilities under the premium option the aim of this paper is to analyze and compare these two alternative options fixed fit and premiums which coexist at the same time in spain describe the evolution of both systems and evaluate its performance the introduction of this support system in spain led to very good results in terms of res e deployment the main advantage of the premium option is that it is a scheme integrated in the electricity market one disadvantage is that it can occasionally lead to overcompensation one way to try to avoid it is to set a cap value in order to evaluate the performance of this dual support system not only res e deployment has been assessed but also the policy stability the adequacy of res e production to the electricity demand pattern and the changes in the investors behaviour

cronyism a cross cultural analysis the devastating economic effects of the asian financial crisis and us corporate scandals have underscored the need to strengthen corporate governance provisions although cronyism has been suggested as a leading cause of the two crises it has received little attention from scholars in this paper we analyze the concept of cronyism and argue that it comes in various guises arising from different motivational bases and power dependence relations we distinguish cronyism from related constructs and posit that it is a form of corruption with different dynamics from other forms we advance propositions on its likelihood of occurrence across cultures and develop a typology of cronyist exchanges

the development of renewable energy power in india which policies have been effective abstract the international energy agency has identified the development of renewable energy sources as a key element to mitigate climate change at the same time it has projected india to be the second largest contributor to the increase in global energy demand to 2035 india hence faces a significant challenge to ensure its energy security by diversifying its power generation mix in the wake of the creation of a green climate fund in cancun this paper studies empirically the effect of the introduction of the electricity act 2003 and the tariff policy 2006 as well as the implementation of feed in tariffs and minimum quotas on clean electricity sourcing on the development of grid connected renewable energy power in nine indian states over the period 2001 2009 results suggest that the passing of the tariff policy 2006 state level policies quantity based instruments and a greater participation of the private sector have played a key role in promoting the development of installed capacity from renewable energy power in the nine states of the sample

what lessons have been learned in reforming the renewables obligation an analysis of internal and external failures in uk renewable energy policy abstract despite operating a delivery programme for res e since 1990 uk targets and policy goals have not been achieved in response the government reformed the ro this article re examines uk renewable energy policy by analysing the internal and external failures of the various mechanisms to determine if government has learnt from previous experience in reforming the ro government did not learn from their own actions during the nffo ro transition evidenced by high levels of similarity in internal external failures the reformed ro is expected to significantly increase deployment has provided a renewables package by comprehensively addressing both internal external failures but major internal failures price financial risk still remain resulting in contiguous failures over two decades and two mechanism changes nffo ro ro reformed ro success will again be heavily dependent on a select few technologies and new untested measures to combat external failures mechanism extension to 2037 is probably the single most important factor underlying potential deployment increases however introducing a fit like system via the sheer number of bolt on reforms to counter policy failures indicates loss of direction and clarity overall although government appears to have learnt some of its lessons from the past two decades significant doubt remains whether renewable energy policy objectives will be met via the latest mechanism change

solar electricity development and policy support in ghana abstract limited fossil resources the continuous increment in fuel prices and severe environmental problems require new sustainable electricity generation options which utilize renewable energies solar photovoltaic generation is a proven renewable energy technology and has the potential to become cost effective in the future for it produces electricity from the solar radiation in ghana the electricity demand is rapidly increasing at a rate of 10 annually in the attempt to change the conventional energy intensive economical development and its negative impact on the environment the government has begun to support the development of the solar photovoltaic technology strongly in this paper the state of solar photovoltaic the challenges facing the industry the potential of the technology the policies and strategies to promote development of the technology have been presented

ghana s bioenergy policy is 20 biofuel integration achievable by 2030 abstract in dealing with the climate change externality of the fossil fuel dominated transport sector bio fuels are widely seen as a solution through its bioenergy policy ghana seeks to improve oil supply security save foreign exchange create jobs and reduce emissions from the transport sector by integrating 20 biofuels into the transport fuel mix by 2030 this paper systematically analyses the transport fuel demand in ghana to determine the biofuel supply target in 2020 and 2030 and evaluates the resource input requirements for integration of biofuels into the transport fuel mix it provides a detailed picture of bio fuel prospects in ghana in the 2030 horizon the research concludes that though significant yield improvement is required to meet the target the target is achievable

a review on promoting share of renewable energy by green trading mechanisms in power system abstract in order to promote the development of renewable energy power generation many countries have issued corresponding policies meanwhile some green trading mechanisms have been implemented in power industry and this paper has mainly presented a review on promoting share of renewable energy by green trading mechanisms in power system with a focus on promotion effects of three mechanisms feed in tariff renewable portfolio standard and emission trading scheme apart from a review summaries comparisons and an outlook for future study are also presented our review suggests that feed in tariff and renewable portfolio standard can effectively increase the share of renewable energy power and lead to renewable resource diversity in addition emission trading also provides stimulus for development of renewable energy besides mitigation of carbon emission

note on rent seeking and committees using a proportionate sharing rule the paper examines how the effort expended in pursuit of rents may be affected by having the rents awarded by either an individual or a committee under differing allocation rules congleton 1984 found that rent seeking efforts should be markedly lower when rents are awarded by committees rather than by a single administrator this paper reexamines the proportionate sharing rule and finds that depending on decision making norms followed by committee members allocation by committee may result in rent seeking expenditures that are less than equal to or greater than those where rents are proportionately divided by a single administrator

improving electricity supply security in ghana the potential of renewable energy for decades ghana s economy has been fuelled by abundant inexpensive hydropower as a developing economy ghana s electricity demand has long been relatively low though rising in recent times due to increasing economic growth urbanization and industrial activities however the rapid demand growth as well as periodic hydrological shocks leaves the country increasingly reliant on expensive oil and gas based generation power plants with a resultant drain on the national economy the main electricity generation company the volta river authority is not able to generate enough electricity for all the demand sectors the electricity supply demand margins the difference between peak demand and available supply of the country fall short of the recommended engineering practice and thus presents a high supply security risk the country has been experiencing an increase in the frequency of power cuts over the last ten years it is clear that ghana will have to expand and diversify its generation capacity in order to improve supply security this paper provides a review of the assessed potential renewable energy resources their current exploitation status and their potential contribution to the electricity supply of the country the paper also presents the barriers to their utilization and the existing policy and regulatory instruments to overcome those barriers plus the current and expected future impacts of these instruments the results show that ghana has several res such as wind solar pv mini hydro and modern biomass that can be exploited for electricity production while their exploitation for electricity generation is currently very low providing just 0 13 of the country s generation the review shows a great potential for res generation to increase substantially over the next decade looking at the government commitment and legal frameworks that are being put in place

the renewable portfolio standard design considerations and an implementation survey renewables have social and environmental bene ts compared to conventional electricity sources but are rarely competitive on a strict nancial cost basis this is because conventional sources are sometimes subsidized their full pollution costs are ignored and renewables involve newer higher cost technologies whose relative costs will fall with commercialization governments use several mechanisms to support renewables including direct nancial support grants loans indirect support r d demonstrations reform of nancial costs of conventional sources subsidy removal pollution taxes and the renewable portfolio standard rps the rps requires a minimum share of electricity from renewable energy sources its use is spreading because it maintains an incentive for renewable producers to reduce costs links the regulated market outcome to an environmental target and reduces government involvement although it is too early to evaluate fully its e ectiveness the survey for this study explored implementation issues in three european countries nine us states and australia and found the following the rps target is usually set to have environmental bene ts without causing signi cant price increases cost caps are sometimes used most jurisdictions limit eligibility to gridconnected domestic renewables the rps is usually applied to producers rather than consumers and to energy output not capacity flexibility mechanisms are desired but a challenge to implement administration in the us and australia is by government with delegation to independent utility regulators while in europe it is more the responsibility of government everywhere the rps is applied alongside other mechanisms of renewables support 2001 elsevier science ltd all rights reserved

biofuel development in ghana policies of expansion and drivers of failure in the jatropha sector abstract biofuel development was mainly promoted in several parts of africa as an energy security or rural development strategy jatropha was the biofuel feedstock that received the most interest across africa from investors however jatropha expansion gave rise to a number of contested issues which produced conflicts winners and losers access to land was at the heart of several of these conflicts though some success stories of individual jatropha projects have been documented the overwhelming majority of these projects in africa have either collapsed or faced significant difficulties understanding the reasons behind the failure of the jatropha sector is an important gap in the academic literature while the lessons learnt from failed projects could inform future policies and practices this literature review synthesizes the key drivers of failure of the jatropha sector in ghana as identified in the literature and complemented through site visits and expert interviews it identifies a number of reasons behind the failure of individual jatropha projects such as poor business planning institutional barriers limited community participation unfair compensation practices obstacles posed by civil society and unconstructive involvement of chiefs the findings indicate the systemic nature of these problems as they often worked synergistically to catalyse the collapse of many jatropha projects in ghana re vitalising the biofuel and especially the jatropha industry is virtually impossible given the current challenges this would require a renewed political interest in ghana particularly to deal with the deficits of the land administration institutions

design of an economically efficient feed in tariff structure for renewable energy development abstract evidence suggests albeit tentatively that feed in tariffs fits are more effective than alternative support schemes in promoting renewable energy technologies rets fits provide long term financial stability for investors in rets which at the prevailing market price of electricity are not currently cost efficient enough to compete with traditional fossil fuel technologies on the other hand if not properly designed fits can be economically inefficient as is widely regarded to have been the case under the public utility regulatory policies act of 1978 purpa under purpa too high a guaranteed price led to the creation of so called purpa machines poorly performing generating units that could survive financially only because of heavy subsidies that came at the expense of retail customers similarly because of their adverse impacts on retail electricity rates german fits have been subject to increasing political pressure from utilities and customers in this paper we propose an innovative two part fit consisting of both a capacity payment and a market based energy payment which can be used to meet the renewables policy goals of regulators our two part tariff design draws on the strengths of traditional fits relies on market mechanisms is easy to implement and avoids the problems caused by distorting wholesale energy markets through above market energy payments the approach is modeled on forward capacity market designs that have been recently implemented by several regional transmission organizations in the usa to address needs for new generating capacity to ensure system reliability

renewable energy in south africa potentials barriers and options for support the challenge of transforming entire economies is enormous even more so if a country is as fossil fuel based and emission intensive as south africa however in an increasingly carbon constrained world and already now facing climate change impacts south africa has to reduce greenhouse gas emissions intensity soon and decidedly the south african electricity sector is a vital part of the economy and at the same time contributes most to the emissions problem first steps have been taken by the south african government to enhance energy efficiency and promote renewable energy however they fail to show large scale effects this paper seeks to identify the relevant barriers to renewable energy investments and based on experience from other countries provide policy recommendations the major barrier identified in the paper is based on the economics of renewable energy technologies i e their cost and risk structures two main factors in investment planning as a solution the south african government introduced several renewable energy support measures such as a feed in tariff the paper discusses the potential and possible shortcomings of this and other existing support schemes and identifies complementing measures on a national scale

an overview of incentive policies for the expansion of renewable energy generation in electricity power systems and the brazilian experience abstract energy production from renewable sources is already a reality in many countries and with that different strategies for incentivizing investments in renewable energy generation have been proposed and used over the years in this study long term policies that have been applied in several countries such as feed in tariffs shares with commercialization of certificates auctions and net metering are overviewed and discussed the main advantages and disadvantages of these incentive strategies are emphasized focusing on applications some of these strategies that have already been applied in brazil are analyzed in greater depth emphasizing the potentialities and fragilities of these mechanisms observed within the country even though it is a country that stands out in relation to other latin american countries regarding electricity generation from non hydro renewable sources brazil still faces barriers that prevent a utilization compatible with its potential moreover the trend for renewable sources such as wind and solar power is to represent an energy capacity reserve to cover hydrological risks and also to contribute to a distributed generation spread through electricity distribution networks

the progressive inefficiency of replacing renewable obligation certificates with contracts for differences in the uk electricity market abstract this paper looks at the emerging risk return profile for new renewable assets as a conventional wholesale electricity market progressively decarbonises using a detailed fundamental model of price formation risks under increasing replacement of fossil fuel facilities with onshore and offshore wind we show that the risk return profile becomes less attractive over time and may therefore need sustained and possibly increasing policy support furthermore we show that green certificate trading may become progressively more attractive as a supplementary support to wholesale prices compared to fixed feed in tariffs this is because the increasingly negative correlation between renewable output and wholesale prices reduces its revenue risk compared to fixed feed in tariffs if other factors remain constant and thereby improves conventional financial performance risk metrics in particular this suggests that the recent energy policy change in britain to move away from green certificates and into contracts for differences may have been ill founded

policies and market factors driving wind power development in the united states abstract in the united states there has been substantial recent growth in wind energy generating capacity with growth averaging 24 percent annually during the past five years about 1700 mw of wind energy capacity was installed in 2001 while another 410 mw became operational in 2002 during 2003 development activity has remained strong with an estimated 1600 mw of capacity installed with this growth an increasing number of states are experiencing investment in wind energy projects currently about half of all states host at least one wind power project this paper explores the key factors at play in the 12 states in which a substantial amount of wind energy capacity has been developed or planned some of the factors that are examined include policy drivers such as renewable portfolio standards rps federal and state financial incentives as well as market drivers such as consumer demand for green power natural gas price volatility and wholesale market rules

integration of renewable energy sources in southeast europe a review of incentive mechanisms and feasibility of investments abstract incentivizing development and deployment of renewable energy sources res but also other low carbon technologies lct has been a successful way of promoting new technologies by creating a feasible investment case and making them competitive with traditional energy sources although different incentive mechanisms exist feed in tariffs have shown to be the best model for accelerating lct development guaranteeing producers preferential prices for the produced electricity over a period of time and enabling them access to the power network to sell inject produced electricity due to these benefits feed in tariff models are the most common model for stimulating res integration in southeast europe the paper reviews the current state of preferential tariffs for res in countries of southeast europe while some countries already have significant installed res capacity others are still in the planning stage the review shows that the amount of installed capacity of a specific technology has a strong impact on the support for the future projects for same technology this comprehensive review of legislative development supporting res as well as technologies preferred in different countries of the region is supported with feasibility assessment of investing in res using the example of two different technology projects wind and photovoltaic analysing the impact of the current tariffs on the return on investment for each country of the region

the effectiveness of federal renewable policies in india abstract the government of india has set ambitious targets for renewable energy however unsubsidized renewable energy is still at least 50 more expensive than fossil fuel power and requires policy support at federal as well as state levels in this context a comparative evaluation of the effectiveness of these policies becomes important using financial models we provide a framework to compare existing federal policies generation based incentive viability gap funding and accelerated depreciation for wind and solar technologies with a new class of debt related federal policies our main finding is that debt related policies offer the most potential for cost effectiveness in the long term they also perform well across other criteria a particularly attractive policy is reduced cost extended tenor debt which compared to existing policies would reduce total subsidies by up to 78 have 100 viability gap coverage potential and provide 76 of subsidy recovery

overall review of renewable energy subsidy policies in china contradictions of intentions and effects abstract china is vast abundant and particularly plentiful in energy sources due to which it has obtained remarkable achievements on economy however its energy structure is too simple to support the sustainable development of economy as coal still contributes to the majority of energy consumption in china as a consequence renewable energy law was enacted in 2005 and chinese government announced a series of policies to boom renewable energy industry subsidy policy is one of the major forms of these policies this paper aims to present these subsidy policies and to analyze their effects according to relative data in energy industry 2005 2013 to find out the deficiencies and enlighten possible policy improvements the original intentions and abstracts of 5 different levels of subsidy related policies are summarized and the effects in reality are attentively analyzed it can be concluded that subsidy policies have different short term effect on different renewable energies and they all show some negative effect to a certain extent 6 core problems are summarized in this paper and remedy strategies are suggested

why is south korea s renewable energy policy failing a qualitative evaluation abstract this study explores the causes of the south korean government s failure to successfully deploy its renewable energy policy despite the south korean government s ongoing efforts since 2002 to promote the deployment of renewable energy the established deployment target has not been met and the share of renewable energy supply in total primary energy supply is poor compared to peer countries with a similar level of economic development therefore we attempt to find the causes of this policy failure using qualitative evaluation methods through the analyses conducted using focused interviews and secondary data we found that the domination of the fossil fuel and nuclear power industry s interests inconsistent policy shifts policy design that lacks sufficient support schemes poorly coordinated government activities and unsystemic and untimely monitoring and feedback have led to the failure of renewable energy deployment policies in south korea to overcome these problems we suggest that the south korean government should set more ambitious policy goals establish a new independent organization that focuses on energy policy issues use a varied policy mix and secure political support from diverse policy actors

learning from experience the development of the renewables obligation in england and wales 2002 2010 abstract the uk has enviable renewable resources both onshore wind and offshore wind wave and tidal the offshore valuation group 2010 the government has had policy mechanisms in place since 1990 to encourage these resources to be developed the current mechanism the renewables obligation ro was specifically designed to emphasise competition and therefore to fit in with the uk s overall strategic approach to energy policy however as yet it has not delivered the capacity that it was designed to do and as a result the uk faces a difficult challenge in attempting to meet european wide renewable energy targets for 2020 as well as longer term decarbonisation targets this paper explores some of the major reasons why the ro has performed so poorly to date and considers the prospects for improvement up to 2020 it concludes that the strategic emphasis on competition in the support mechanisms has played a key role in limiting renewables development but that the mechanism has changed significantly since it was introduced however these changes together with proposals for electricity market reform still do not address important elements of risk in comparison with a standard feed in tariff

an assessment of the greek incentives scheme for photovoltaics abstract after two years of elaboration a new legislation was enacted in 2006 in greece providing an appealing feed in tariff fit scheme for photovoltaics pvs the response of the market was immediate with more than 7947 licenses having been submitted in less than 2 years time the effectiveness however of an incentives scheme cannot be judged solely by the response of prospective investors aim of this paper is to present and discuss a quantitative assessment of this newly introduced fit law in greece with respect to its attractiveness to investors its effectiveness towards launching a new market its cost efficiency and its ability to lift non economic barriers that led to significant delays in the diffusion of res over the last 10 years

filling the gaps policy supports and interventions for scaling up renewable energy development in small island developing states abstract sids have both opportunities and challenges economic social and environmental vulnerability for low carbon development economically they are highly dependent on international trade they have limited domestic markets too small to provide significant scale economies their exports are constraint by their isolation and remote location we provide an overview of current energy situation in sids their goals to adopt low carbon economic development paths policies already in place or required to achieve the goals and challenges to implement their plans and strategies the focus is on energy policy landscape that needs to be addressed in order to scale up renewable energy technologies needed to stimulate low carbon economic growth we find that sids face four key barriers to renewable energy development information to improve the energy information network by strengthening existing information systems and building awareness of renewable energy financing mechanisms for renewable energy projects including regional loan structures and technical assistance to banks policy supports to implement regulatory frameworks that enable renewable energy development and building technical capacity among players in the renewable energy field we recommend policy enablers that underlie what could positively impact on renewable energy goals and more broadly energy efficiency and climate change

governing the transition to renewable energy a review of impacts and policy issues in the small hydropower boom abstract the transition to renewable energy technologies raises new and important governance questions with small hydropower shp expanding as part of renewable energy and climate mitigation strategies this review assesses its impacts and identifies escalating policy issues to provide a comprehensive literature review of small hydropower we evaluated over 3600 articles and policy documents this review identified four major concerns 1 confusion in small hydropower definitions is convoluting scholarship and policy making 2 there is a lack of knowledge and acknowledgement of small hydropower s social environmental and cumulative impacts 3 small hydropower s promotion as a climate mitigation strategy can negatively affect local communities posing contradictions for climate change policy and 4 institutional analysis is needed to facilitate renewable energy integration with existing environmental laws to ensure sustainable energy development for readers interested in small hydropower we clarify areas of confusion in definition and explain the corresponding impacts for distinct system designs for a broader readership we situate small hydropower implementation within international trends of renewable energy development the contradictory impacts of climate change policy emerging dynamics in energy finance and reliance on market mechanisms our paper provides a timely contribution to scholarship on small hydropower and the transition to renewable energy

complementarity and substitutability a review of state level renewable energy policy instrument interactions abstract this paper provides an extensive review of two streams of literature the first part of the review focuses on policy tools and their interrelationships and the second part focuses on the literature on the state renewable energy policy tools based on the reviews this paper investigates how policymakers choose a set of interrelated renewable energy policy instruments and identify under what conditions policy instruments complement or substitute we extend the political market framework by examining the influences of 1 administrative agencies on the supply side 2 interest groups on the demand side and 3 the policy induced problem situation changes on the adoption of state renewable energy policy tools building upon reviews of both policy tools and policy diffusion theories a set of hypotheses are advanced for state renewable energy policy interactions among public benefit fund pbf renewable portfolio standards rps and corporate tax incentive cti the hypotheses are tested by three event history models in which rps pbf and cti serve as dependent variables separately the complementary effects between previous use of rps and adoption of pbf between previous use of pbf and adoption of rps and between previous use of cti and adoption of rps are confirmed we also find support for the policy substitutability between previous use of cti and adoption of pbf

renewable energy in eastern asia renewable energy policy review and comparative swot analysis for promoting renewable energy in japan south korea and taiwan abstract japan south korea and taiwan are deficient of domestic fossil energy sources and depend significantly on imported fuels since the oil shock in the 1970s all three countries have promoted renewable energy as an alternative energy source to improve energy security currently renewable energy is being promoted to build low carbon economies this study reviews the development of renewable energy policies and roadmaps it also examines and compares strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats swot of these countries in the context of advancing renewable energy policies and technologies and expanding domestic renewable energy installations as well as strategically positioning themselves in the international renewable energy market as exporters of clean energy technologies through the swot analysis this paper identifies a capacity for additional renewable energy deployment in these countries and highlights the necessity of increased cooperation between the three countries to strengthen their domestic and regional renewable energy sectors and compete in the global renewable energy market in the post fukushima era

comparing the feed in tariff incentives for renewable electricity in ontario and germany the development of feed in tariff fit programs to support green electricity in ontario the green energy and green economy act of 2009 and germany the erneuerbare energien gesetz of 2000 is compared the two policies are highly comparable offering similar rates for most renewable electricity technologies major differences between the policies include the level of differentiation found in the german policy as well as the use of a price degression strategy for fit rates in germany compared to an escalation strategy in ontario the german renewable electricity portfolio is relatively balanced compared to ontario where wind power dominates the portfolio at the federal level canada does not yet have a policy similar to the european directive on renewable energy and this lack may impact decisions taken by manufacturers of renewable technologies who consider establishing operations in the province ontario s green energy and green economy act could be benefit from lessons in the german system especially with regard to degression of feed in tariff rates over time which could significantly reduce payments to producers over the course of a contract and in turn encourage greater competitiveness among renewable power providers in the future

examining the financial performance of micro generation wind projects and the subsidy effect of feed in tariffs for urban locations in the united kingdom abstract this paper seeks to evaluate the effect of the upcoming 2010 uk feed in tariff uk fit on decentralised small wind energy installations at the household and building level in urban locations it is projected that the uk fit will stimulate an unprecedented surge in building mounted turbine installation the tariff amount must stimulate incentive but mitigate the likelihood of distortions in the competitive electricity market to analyse these issues measured energy output from sites in the warwick wind trials project wwtp is converted into revenue in a net present value npv framework for assessing commercial purchases of small wind systems variances in project variables are examined through npv simulations using monte carlo analysis to capture permutations of small wind project performance in the uk with and without the uk fit our research concludes that the proposed tariff amount of 30 5 p kwh will not significantly boost the economic attractiveness of mildly selective wwtp based sites in the uk furthermore the fixed tariff rate kwh generated could cause inefficiencies applied across uneven wind resource distribution the results of this study suggest further examination of policy related to micro generation in particular decentralised small wind projects

renewable energy technology uptake in kazakhstan policy drivers and barriers in a transitional economy kazakhstan has considerable renewable energy potential the development of which can provide significant environmental economic and social benefits the country s national low carbon energy strategy aims to bring the share of renewables in electricity production to 50 by 2050 despite the considerable renewable energy resource base and ambitious deployment targets the current contribution of non hydro renewable energy to final electricity demand is less than one percent adoption of renewable energy technologies in a fossil fuel resource rich country like kazakhstan remains a big challenge but current low oil prices and a weakening economy may offer new opportunities deploying an analytical hierarchy process methodology we identify the most significant barriers to uptake of renewable energy in the context of the electricity sector the main factors preventing the penetration and scale up of renewables include a political and regulatory framework which supports and promotes a continued focus on fossil fuels supported in part by regional geopolitics a lack of awareness of sustainable alternative energy generation systems and a combination of social poverty and poor education in communities that are most likely to benefit from broadly distributed renewable technologies market conditions driven by current electricity tariffs inefficient but incumbent power technologies and a high risk business environment ranking barriers by importance will provide practitioners and regulators a mechanism to improve policies and incentivize renewable energy uptake in kazakhstan and other resource rich transition economies in central asia

modeling and analysis of renewable energy obligations and technology bandings in the uk electricity market in the uk electricity market generators are obliged to produce part of their electricity with renewable energy resources in accordance with the renewable obligation order since 2009 technology banding has been added meaning that different technologies are rewarded with a different number of certificates we analyze these two different renewable obligation policies in a mathematical representation of an electricity market with random availabilities of renewable generation outputs and random electricity demand we also present another alternative banding policy we provide revenue adequate pricing schemes for the three obligation policies we carry out a simulation study via sampling a key finding is that the uk banding policy cannot guarantee that the original obligation target is met hence potentially resulting in more pollution our alternative provides a way to make sure that the target is met while supporting less established technologies but it comes with a significantly higher consumer price furthermore as an undesirable side effect we observe that a cost reduction in a technology with a high banding namely offshore wind leads to more co2 emissions under the uk banding policy and to higher consumer prices under the alternative banding policy

taiwan s renewable energy strategy and energy intensive industrial policy abstract since taiwan is a densely populated island with almost no fossil energy resources the development of renewable energy is an important issue in the past industries with low energy productivity were encouraged for economic development but this structure of low energy productivity industries should now be adjusted to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency by analyzing the gross domestic product together with the energy consumption and co2 emissions for major industries in taiwan this paper considers what kinds of industries should be encouraged or discouraged for taiwan s future development in addition the recommendations for taiwan s renewable energy and energy intensive industrial policy are presented