Arbeitspapier | Working paper

Can technology-specific deployment policies be cost-effective? The case of renewable energy support schemes

While there is relatively limited disagreement on the general need for supporting the deployment of renewable energy sources for electricity generation (RES-E), there are diverging views on whether the granted support levels should be technology-neutral or technology-specific. In this paper we question the frequently stressed argument that technology-neutral schemes will promote RES-E deployment cost-effectively. A simple partial equilibrium model of the electricity sector with one representative investor is developed to illustrate how the cost-effective support levels to different RES-E technologies will be influenced when selected market failures are introduced. We address market failures associated with technological development, long-term risk taking, path dependencies as well as various external costs, all of which drive a wedge between the private and the social costs of RES-E deployment. Based on these analytical findings and a review of empirical literature, we conclude that the relevance of these market failures is typically heterogeneous across different RES-E technologies. The paper ends by discussing a number of possible caveats to implementing cost-effective technology-specific support schemes in practice, including the role of various information and political economy constraints. While these considerations involve important challenges, neither of them suggests an unambiguous plea for technology-neutral RES support policies either.

Sprache
Englisch
Umfang
Seite(n): 27
ISSN
1436-140X
Anmerkungen
Status: Veröffentlichungsversion

Erschienen in
UFZ Discussion Papers (1/2016)

Thema
Ökologie
Politikwissenschaft
Ökologie und Umwelt
spezielle Ressortpolitik
erneuerbare Energie
Energieerzeugung
Elektrizität
neue Technologie
Förderpolitik
Energiepolitik
Effektivität
Subvention
Bioenergie

Ereignis
Geistige Schöpfung
(wer)
Lehmann, Paul
Söderholm, Patrik
Ereignis
Veröffentlichung
(wer)
Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung - UFZ
(wo)
Deutschland, Leipzig
(wann)
2016

URN
urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-46488-2
Rechteinformation
GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften. Bibliothek Köln
Letzte Aktualisierung
21.06.2024, 16:27 MESZ

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Objekttyp

  • Arbeitspapier

Beteiligte

  • Lehmann, Paul
  • Söderholm, Patrik
  • Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung - UFZ

Entstanden

  • 2016

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