Workshop #3: A New Climate for Regulatory Environmental Policy Instruments

The long-term impacts of climate change and the major role of the energy sector in causing emissions of greenhouse gases motivate a study of the diffusion of new carbon-free energy technologies. The purpose of the paper is to use the wind power example to illustrate important challenges to renewable energy technology diffusion in a modern society. In doing this we combine a quantitative analysis of innovation and diffusion in the European wind power sectors with an in-depth case study of the experiences of wind power development in Sweden. Overall the paper shows that the strength and the design of the different public support schemes for wind power can only to a limited extent explain important inter-country differentces in national wind power developments. It is shown that in Sweden, a country with a poor wind power diffusion record, the economics of wind power is instead negatively affected by: (a) the lack of policy stability; (b) criticism from local stakeholders; and (c) the legal provisions governing the assessment of the environmental impacts of wind mills and the planning procedures for mill location. While national and global energy policies as well as the general public typically point out wind power as particularly environmentally friendly, most of th