Lessons learned from recent promotion strategies for electricity from renewables

To increase the share of renewable energy for electricity generation is a major target in many countries world-wide. Yet, to bring about a significant breakthrough a series of barriers has to be overcome and proper policy strategies have to be launched. In recent years, a wide range of such strategies has been implemented in different EU-countries. The major ones were investment subsidies, feed-in tariffs (FIT), tax incentives, quota-based tradable green certificates (TGC) and tendering systems. Which of the different instruments is most effective for increasing the dissemination of renewables still remains a controversial topic. The major objective of this paper is to evaluate the performance of various strategies in EU member states in recent years and to present the lessons learned. The most important conclusions of this analysis are: (i) regardless which strategy is chosen it is of superior relevance that there is a clear focus on the exclusive promotion of new capa city; (ii) A well-designed (dynamic) Feed-in tariff system provides a certain deployment of electricity generated from Renewable Energy Sources fastest and at lowest costs for society; (iii) Promotion strategies with low policy risk lead to lower profit requirements by investors and, hence, cause lower costs for society