An offshore wind union? Diversity and convergence in European offshore wind governance

Offshore wind megaprojects in European waters have significant carbon abatement potential and increasing their number is a policy goal for several European maritime nations. But experience has shown that governance of large-scale, commercial offshore wind development is not straightforward. It is found that in five EU Member States, policy innovation intended to enable investment in offshore wind projects is leading to a convergence upon a distinctive European model of offshore wind governance. Notably, the European Union appears to play a relatively small role in this process and further research into how offshore wind policy innovation propagates in the EU is warranted

An overview of renewable energy policy and regulatory considerations in Ouessant and the UEA campus

This is the final version of the reportIntroduction. This document provides a methodology for undertaking resource assessment of renewable technologies for remote communities and sets out to identify and describe the key policy and regulatory factors in expected to be relevant to the aims of the ICE project. These factors include policies and regulations that affect the production, distribution and consumption of energy in two locations. Together the two parts fulfil task T1.1 of the ICE project. [...]INTERRE

Auctions for the support of renewable energy in the UK: updated results and lessons learnt

This is the final version. Available from AURES II via the link in this recordBackground to this study. This report serves to restate and update the findings of AURES report D4.1-UK published in March 2016 (Fitch-Roy and Woodman 2016)1 . While the fundamental design of the UK auctions system remains largely unchanged, substantial shifts in the policy context and the additional experience and data from two further auction processes (one completed, another in progress at the time of writing) warrant an updated evaluation and report. The UK has been a frontrunner in the use of RES auctions. From early experiences with the Non Fossil-Fuel Obligation (NFFO) auctions in the 1990s to the current auction system, first announced in 2011, the use of competitive allocation mechanisms has been central to the UK’s approach to supporting new renewable electricity generation projects. However, the use and design of renewable auctions remain a source of policy debate and discussion in the UK. For example, the potential for a combination of auction dynamics and the application of a cap on the volume of ‘fuelled’ renewable technologies led to higher than necessary support costs being awarded to some projects has been the subject of an enquiry by the national audit office (NAO 2018). This remainder of this report adopts the following structure: Section 2 provides an updated overview of the UK electricity sector Section 3 outlines the key features of the UK RES auction system, including recent rule changes Section 4 updates our earlier evaluation of the programme in light of recent auctions Section 5 concludesEuropean Commissio

Comparison of auctions and alternative policy options for RES-E support

This is the final version of the report. Available from AURES via the DOI in this record.This report summarises the findings of Task 6.2 of the AURES project. It intends to compare auctions with alternative policy instruments and examines under which circumstances auctions may be superior and inferior to achieve intended policy targets. Among an abundant list of potential policy drivers, which may affect an instrument’s effectiveness, its efficiency or further success criteria, the basis for the present analysis is the factor risk. It is demonstrated that risk constitutes an important factor as it may have decisive effects on societal welfare and thus may affect the decision-making of policy makers. Given a degree of uncertainty regarding the marginal costs and the marginal benefits of renewable support, particularly the choice between price and quantity-based instruments may yield different welfare effects. Both instruments expose policy makers to a risk of setting inefficient investment incentives. However, while price instruments may reduce the risk of welfare losses given a relatively steep marginal cost and a comparably flat marginal benefit curve, a quantity scheme may be superior if the relation between the two curves is vice versa. Building on this insight, our analysis reveals that the incentives for the use of policy instruments to support the deployment of RES are both country and technology specific. In general, it appears that the incentive to employ a quantity-based mean such as an auction is larger when the natural resources of the technology that is to be supported are abundant and if that technology is rather well developed. Moreover, since within a country the market and natural conditions of the different RES technologies and hence their supply costs may vary considerably, our findings provide an argument against a technology-neutral support.EU Horizon 2020 program, grant number 64617

Defining incumbency: considering the UK heat sector

This is the final version of the article. Available from UKERC via the link in this record.This is working paper 1/3 from the Heat, Incumbency and Transformations (HIT) project.Incumbency is frequently considered as a barrier to the transformation of unsustainable socio-technical systems such as energy systems. However, despite wide use of the term, ‘incumbency’ has never been fully or adequately defined within the sustainable transitions literature. This working paper considers the use and meaning of the term incumbency in relation to sustainable transformations, specifically in relation to the UK’s heat system. It takes ideas of incumbency from other disciplines including economics, politics and innovation. Synthesising these literatures, the paper proposes a number of characteristics of incumbency. Finally we propose a definition of incumbency in relation to sustainability transformations, which suggests that incumbents are actors already present in a specific socio-technical system, who are likely to be involved with unsustainable practices, and who possess the capacity to affect system change.UKERC is funded by The Research Councils UK Energy Programme

Going around in circles? Conceptual recycling, patching and policy layering in the EU Circular Economy Package

This is the final version. Available on open access from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this recordThe circular economy (CE) concept is informing the governance of resource use and waste management on a global scale, leading to widespread policy instrument innovation. However, the recent appearance of CE ‘policy portfolios’ raises questions about whether such policies are genuinely path-breaking or are merely adjustments to existing arrangements. Tracing the emergence of the European Union’s Circular Economy Package shows that, while some measures are genuinely novel, many others are ‘patched’ onto pre-existing instruments and that the overall portfolio exhibits a high degree of institutional ‘layering’. Given the evidence of relative ineffectiveness of past incremental environmental interventions, there is a mismatch between such approaches and the scale, pace and scope of transformation implied by contemporary articulations of the circular economy concept. Creating the policy conditions for sustainable production and consumption may require more radical policy formulations than CE proponents acknowledge

Policy instrument supply and demand: how the renewable electricity auction took over the world

This is the final version. Available on open access from Cogitatio Press via the DOI in this recordThe selection and design of renewable electricity support instruments is an important part of EU energy policy and central to the governance of the Energy Union. In 2014, the European Commission published updated guidelines for state aid that effectively mandate the EU-wide implementation of auctions for allocating revenue support to commercial scale renewable electricity generation. This article argues that the RES auction’s rapid ascent towards dominance is explained by a coincidence of an activist interpretation of EU state aid law creating demand for knowledge about the instrument and the emergence of a ready source of supply from a burgeoning community of a RES auction specialists and experts. Knowledge gained through EU-wide implementation of auctions further adds to supply of auctions expertise among the community. The implications of positive feedback between instrument demand and the growing supply of knowledge about an instrument reinforces the importance of critical engagement between policymakers and policy experts.This research was supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) [1402887] and the AURES and AURES II projects funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme [646172] and [817619

European Renewable Energy Governance under the Hammer: Interrogating the Rise and Rise of the RES Auction

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from UACES via the link in this recordAs a renewable energy pioneer, the EU is a laboratory for policy instrument evolution and innovation. Following many years of debate about the relative merit of feed-in tariffs and tradable green certificates for promoting renewable electricity expansion in Europe, there is a new instrument in town. The renewable energy support (RES) auction has rapidly become the instrument of choice, de facto mandated by the European Commission under state-aid law. RES auctions are now the main instrument in many European countries. A common explanation for the adoption of RES auctions by EU member states is that the Commission requires their implementation under state-aid law, and member states acquiesced. This paper casts a critical eye over this “coercive Commission” explanation by constructing an account of the transition to auctions in Germany and Spain, each titans of EU renewable energy. By focussing on the necessary conditions for the coercive Commission argument – institutional compatibility and supportive domestic interest constituencies – we provide a qualified account of Commission action in this area and show a more dynamic and strategic approach to RES policy instrument harmonisation. We conclude by suggesting that future research may usefully examine the implications of a pan-European system of centrally coordinated auctions for the long-term future in of RES policy in the EU.European Commissio

Wipeout? Entrepreneurship, policy interaction and the EU’s 2030 renewable energy target

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Francis (Routledge) via the DOI in this record.In 2014, the European Council set energy and climate targets for 2030 that will have far-reaching implications for the decarbonisation of Europe’s economy as well as the nature and success of the energy integration project, the Energy Union. The targets mark a qualitative shift towards a more technology-neutral EU climate and energy policy than represented in targets for 2020, decided in 2007. Existing explanations emphasise the role of non-state actors but do not fully account for the muted advocacy for a multiple targets approach. This article examines the alternative explanatory power of the concepts of problem surfing and spillover, taken from the multiple streams approach, for interpreting the inability of multiple targets advocates to make a real impact on the policy agenda. Findings suggest that the problematisation of the EU’s ‘flagship’ instrument, the EU-ETS, by policy entrepreneurs and subsequent structural internal alignment of the policy community offer a complementary explanation

Policy change, power and the development of Great Britain's Renewable Heat Incentive

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.The role of socio-political power is central to the development of policy, but systematic analyses of power associated with the development of energy policy are rare. Power is also an important yet somewhat under-researched aspect of socio-technical transitions research. The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) policy aims to increase deployment of low-carbon heat in Great Britain and begin a transformation to a low carbon GB heat system. This article analyses the socio-political power associated with the development of the RHI policy based on Lukes' 'dimensions of power' approach using a methodology based on triangulation. We identify a number of policy change episodes during the development of the RHI and describe the influence of key actors on the policy. Despite the common assumption of the power of incumbents, we show that those actors with niche technological expertise, close relationships with Government actors and actors within the administration have been the most powerful drivers of policy development and change. Niche actors sped up the introduction of the RHI scheme and have also had some success in increasing relative support for biomethane injection. The power of a civil servant to slow the introduction of the domestic element of the RHI has also been identified.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC