Wind Power Politics And Policy

The aim of the book is to analyse the factors that have influenced wind power outcomes in a range of countries which have featured significant wind power deployment programmes. A central theme is the relationship between patterns of ownership and the outcomes. These flow from different social environments, but they are associated with different types of planning outcome and deployment rates. Grass roots ownership is more widespread than is commonly thought, although it is not a panacea for effective wind power programmes. Financial policies used to promote wind power also have important influences of the rates of deployment. However, what seems to be most important for wind power deployment is a double coincidence of widespread social support for wind power deployment and effective financial support systems for wind power.

The wind power development policy community faces a conundrum. On the one hand, as the most commercially viable form of utility-scale renewable energy, the wind power industry has experienced in excess of ten-fold growth in total installed capacity over the past decade. On the other hand, installed wind power capacity still accounts for less than 2% of global electricity-generation capacity, despite the prevalence of studies indicating that, in certain situations, wind power can be a cheaper form of electricity than most fossil fuel alternatives. Accordingly, the most puzzling aspect of wind power development policy can be summed up in the following manner: given the global imperative to facilitate an expedient transition away from CO2-intensive energy technologies and the commercial viability of wind power, what is stopping the wind power industry from capturing higher market shares around the world? In Wind Power Politics and Policy, Scott Valentine examines this question from two angles. First, it presents an analysis of social, technical, economic and political (STEP) barriers which research shows tends to stymie wind power development. Case studies which examine phlegmatic wind power development in Japan, Taiwan, Australia and Canada are presented in order to demonstrate to the reader how these barriers manifest themselves in practice. Second, the book presents an analysis of STEP catalysts which have been linked to successful growth of wind power capacity in select nations. Four more case studies that examine the successful development of wind power in Denmark, Germany, the USA and China are put forth as practical examples of how supportive factors conflate to produce conditions that are conducive to growth of wind power markets. By examining its impediments and catalysts, the book will provide policymakers with insight into the types of factors that must be effectively managed in order to maximize wind power development.

Taking a comparative case study approach between Canada and Germany, this book investigates the contrasting response of governments to anti-wind movements. Environmental social movements have been critical players for encouraging the shift towards increased use of renewable energy. However, social movements mobilizing against the installation of wind turbines have now become a major obstacle to their increased deployment. Andrea Bues draws on a cross-Atlantic comparative analysis to investigate the different contexts of contentious energy policy. Focusing on two sub-national forerunner regions in installed wind power capacity – Brandenburg and Ontario – Bues draws on social movement theory to explore the concept of discursive energy space and propose explanations as to why governments respond differently to social movements. Overall, Social Movements against Wind Power in Canada and Germany offers a novel conceptualization of discursive-institutional contexts of contentious energy politics and helps better understand protest against renewable energy policy. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of renewable energy policy, sustainability and climate change politics, social movement studies and environmental sociology.

Bringing together contributions from leading researchers, this volume reflects on the political, institutional and social factors that have shaped the recent expansion of wind energy, and to consider what lessons this experience may provide for the future expansion of other renewable technologies.

A comprehensive political analysis of the rapid growth in renewable wind and solar power, mapping an energy transition through theory, case studies, and policy. Wind and solar are the most dynamic components of the global power sector. How did this happen? After the 1973 oil crisis, the limitations of an energy system based on fossil fuels created an urgent need to experiment with alternatives, and some pioneering governments reaped political gains by investing heavily in alternative energy such as wind or solar power. Public policy enabled growth over time, and economies of scale brought down costs dramatically. In this book, Michaël Aklin and Johannes Urpelainen offer a comprehensive political analysis of the rapid growth in renewable wind and solar power, mapping an energy transition through theory, case studies, and policy analysis. Aklin and Urpelainen argue that, because the fossil fuel energy system and political support for it are so entrenched, only an external shock—an abrupt rise in oil prices, or a nuclear power accident, for example—allows renewable energy to grow. They analyze the key factors that enable renewable energy to withstand political backlash, andt they draw on this analyisis to explain and predict the development of renewable energy in different countries over time. They examine the pioneering efforts in the United States, Germany, and Denmark after the 1973 oil crisis and other shocks; explain why the United States surrendered its leadership role in renewable energy; and trace the recent rapid growth of modern renewables in electricity generation, describing, among other things, the return of wind and solar to the United States. Finally, they apply the lessons of their analysis to contemporary energy policy issues.

The book provides an overview of the policy frameworks that have been employed to support offshore wind power, and their efficacy in nurturing sustainable cost reductions across the industry.A growing number of countries are increasingly receptive to the prospect of implementing policies to support the deployment of large-scale renewable energy. The promise of carbon-free, utility-scale power generation from offshore wind farms has incentivised and nurtured offshore wind development. However, the high relative costs of deploying offshore wind compared to alternatives have a history of making it political divisive pursuit. At the same time when many countries are just beginning to explore the possibility of developing an offshore wind industry, many other countries are experiencing what can be described as policy fatigue over supporting offshore wind. If cost reductions are not proven sustainable by the early 2020’s, then government support for offshore wind may start to erode and even completely evaporate in several key offshore wind markets – with global repercussions. This book will provide the reader with a clear picture of the current status and future challenges of the offshore wind industry globally, incorporating both a technical analysis of the cost drivers as well as a detailed analysis of policy design and economics of industry.

At a time when humanity is challenged by fossil fuel depletion and climate change, this book explains the development of wind power as a major energy growth sector, stressing the interactions between political, economic and social dimensions as the key to understanding public acceptability and uptake.

This book focuses specifically on policy mixes and wind power diffusion in four Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Although these Nordic welfare states have much in common, they have adopted different wind power policies and experienced dissimilar diffusion trajectories. Understanding these patterns across the Nordic countries is the central puzzle that this book investigates. Empirically, this book provides a first-of-its-kind comparative study of wind power policies in the Nordic countries. Analytically, the authors contribute to the transition policy mix literature, which remains largely insensitive to political feasibility. This book will be of interest to researchers and students as well as private and public decision makers looking for tools to enable the energy transition.