New impulse needed for energy policy

31 October 2006

Wind turbines could be put to better use if central government and regional authorities were to adopt a smarter approach towards the wind energy market, says Dutch socio-environmental researcher Susanne Agterbosch. Her research reveals that for too long government policy has focused on large-scale applications by energy companies. Agterbosch calls for 'smart policies' for the wind energy market, in which technical and economic factors are not the only issues considered.

Government policy must make a clearer distinction between different types of entrepreneurs in the wind energy market and different policy levels, says Agterbosch. The government must also clearly commit itself and formulate a clear vision. Further Agterbosch calls for feasibility studies into the production of wind energy to include not just technical and economic conditions but also social and institutional conditions. Examples are entrepreneurial characteristics and arguments for the use of wind energy at a local policy level. The government also needs to ensure that there is a stable investment climate for the different target groups of wind energy policy.

Implementation capacity

Agterbosch investigated how institutional and social conditions affected the use of wind energy in the period 1989–2004. Using a number of case studies, she analysed the interaction between behaviour, preferences and the interests of individual parties and institutional possibilities and limitations. This interaction determined the so-called 'implementation capacity': the degree to which an entrepreneur is able to realise wind turbines within the given possibilities. This capacity increases if the government adapts its policy according to the recommendations made by Agterbosch. Of course this not only concerns the conditions created by government but also the individual entrepreneur's capacities.

Various parties are dependent on each other in the production of wind energy. At the start of the 1990s the energy distribution companies dominated the market. Later agrarians led the pack and new independent wind power project developers emerged on the scene. According to Agterbosch, in the 1990s government policy focused far too long on large-scale applications by energy companies and ignored the limited motivation of this business group to invest in decentralised and fluctuating assets. The national wind policy also failed to take into account the societal and procedural problems of this business group at the subnational level. The fact that other entrepreneurial groups such as agrarians encountered far fewer problems in realising their projects, did not receive attention at a national level, in her view.

The doctoral research 'Empowering wind power' was part of the programme Accelerated Implementation of a Renewable Electricity supply in The Netherlands (AIRE) financed by the NWO/SenterNovem Stimulation Programme Energy Research. The programme is a joint initiative between SenterNovem and the NWO Division for the Social Sciences, and aims to develop the scientific knowledge needed for the transition to a sustainable energy supply.

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