Agricultural green gas demonstration projects in the Netherlands. A stakeholder analysis

In the Netherlands green gas is seen as a sustainable alternative to natural gas. However, green gas is still not competitive to natural gas in terms of pricing, and production volumes are remarkably low. Currently, there is a lot of attention to green gas which stems from upgraded biogas, which is produced by manure-based anaerobic co-digestion by livestock farmers. In this article the central question is to understand green gas demonstration projects from stakeholders’ perspectives, and identify barriers accordingly. The results of our analysis show that a disproportionate burden lies with biogas producers, who are therefore unwilling to invest. In large part this is due to juridical-administrative stipulations that provide gas grid operators with little incentives to invest, notably in biogas infrastructure and biogas treatment equipment. However, biogas producers face many more risks and challenges: (production) subsidies not being granted, legal permits to operate biogas plants not being granted, limitative environmental policies that restrict business operations, and price instability regarding co-feedstock. Moreover, access to bank to loans has declined strongly in recent years. Altogether, the risks potential biogas producers face, the lack of regulatory incentives grid operators have to engage in green gas business development, and the lack of market demand among endconsumers, do not favor green gas niche development. This can only change when policy makers design stakeholder specific strategies to solve those barriers; e.g. public investments funds to cover for high upfront costs, and regulatory changes regarding the role and competences of grid operators

Lokale waarden voor lokale energiesystemen

Recentelijk zijn in Nederland door burgers talrijke projecten gestart om lokaal energie op te wekken. Hoewel dergelijke initiatieven kansrijk zijn, ondervinden burgers dat overheid en markt onvoldoende rekening houden met lokale waarden, voorkeuren en krachtenvelden. Daardoor wordt het bestaan van lokale energie-initiatieven bedreigd. Onderzoekers van de Universiteit Twente hebben een interactief onderzoeksproject uitgevoerd waarbij samen met praktijkdeskundigen op zoek is gegaan naar oplossingsrichtingen. Daarbij stonden spelregels, het functioneren van lokale krachtenvelden, en coproductie centraal. De resultaten van het onderzoek geven aanleiding tot de ontwikkeling van nieuwe institutionele- en beleidsmodellen ter ondersteuning van lokale energieinitiatieve

Publiek-private samenwerking: een reparatiestrategie voor falende ordeningsvormen

Government employs Public-Private Partnerships as a remedial strategy directed at compensating for failures that typically occur in pure market arrangements, networks or pure hierarchical government settings. It is then possible to engage in Public-Private Partnerships corresponding with the three basic forms of social organization: market, network and government. The distinction between: (1) market-PPP, (2) network-PPP and (3) public authority-PPP is elaborated

Lokaal klimaatbeleid

Het Klimaatakkoord, een afspraak tussen rijk en gemeenten, betekende een belangrijke mijlpaal voor het lokaal klimaatbeleid. Maar hoe is het verder gegaan? Is daadwerkelijk een lokaal klimaatbeleid van de grond gekomen