Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
cost-effectiveness) when events do not develop as expected (i.e., material costs
increase or decrease to a greater extent than expected). Obviously an inherent trade-
off between policy stability and
exibility exists and a balance has to be struck
between the two. The challenge will be to maintain investor con
dence in market
stability while managing the overall costs of policies [
3
]. Retroactive changes should
be avoided, but policy changes for new RES-E investments should be allowed.
Changes to the policy framework over time should be gradual and predictable.
Past experience has shown the importance of the ability to promptly adjust RES-
E support schemes in response to changing conditions. When investment costs go
down more rapidly than expected, an inability to readjust the level of support leads
to excessive investors rents, excessive costs for the consumers and an overheating
of the market, reducing the political feasibility of RES-E support. In other words,
remuneration schemes should be able to dynamically adapt to the reductions in the
costs of technologies. Similarly, in the opposite case of rising costs of RES gen-
eration, prompt adjustments may be necessary. Adjustments should only be applied
to new investments, and not on a retroactive basis. Given the number of potential
unexpected factors in the energy transition, a degree of
exibility will be necessary
also in the future [
80
], p. 10. For these reasons, a
ne-tuning must be
combined with a long-term deployment strategy stable enough to achieve long-term
deployment targets [
80
].
exible
3 Concluding Remarks
This chapter has discussed some usual claims about RES-E support using either
theoretical arguments or empirical studies. It should be stressed that there is often an
element of truth in those populate claims. The problem is that they miss the whole
picture and they often have a simplistic perspective of complex problems, which limits
the policy relevance of the analysis. Therefore, the replies are usually not an absolute
rejection of popular statements (i.e.,
), which often contain an element of
truth. They tend to complement these statements, integrating their insights.
Hopefully, the results of the analysis are useful for academic practitioners and
policy makers alike. For the former, the discussion provides a research agenda on
issues that are worth tackling in further research. For policy makers, we provide a
balanced consideration of different arguments that should be taken into account
when designing RES-E support schemes, both in Europe and elsewhere.
“
claims
”
References
1. Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21) (2013). Global status report
2013. Paris.
http://www.ren21.net
2. Del R
o P, Gual MA (2004) The promotion of green electricity in Europe: present and future.
Eur Environ J 14:219
í
234
-
Search WWH ::
Custom Search