Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
On-farm renewable energy
both on- and off-farm. Bruns
et al.
(2009) define the period from 2000 to mid-2004 as a
'boosted departure phase' in Germany. The replacement of the Electricity Feed-in Law by
the EEG in 2000, alongside an increase in feed-in compensation, accelerated development
in the biogas sector. In 2001 the introduction of the Biomass Regulation
(
Biomasseverordnung
) led to the EEG now primarily serving energy and climate objectives
instead of waste industry interests (Umweltbundesamt, 2010). The period from mid-2004 to
end-2006 marks a 'boom/take-off phase': in 2004 the 1
st
EEG amendment led to an
increase in the number of biogas plants as the renewable materials ('
Nawaro
') bonus made
energy crop cultivation (especially maize) highly attractive to farmers. Low agricultural
prices also led to the expansion of energy crop cultivation. During the period,
professionalization of the biogas sector progressed further. Graded rewards according to
output favoured biogas plants of up to 500 kW, but due to unclear definitions it was
possible to set up large facilities in the form of 'biogas parks' (consisting of multiple 500
kW plants).
In Scotland, production of electricity from wind energy increased from 216 GWh in
2000 to 2,023 GWh in 2006 (Scottish Government, 2013). This reflects the introduction of
renewable obligation certificates (ROCs) in 2002, which required energy companies to
produce either a set percentage of their energy through renewable sources, or purchase
certificates of renewable energy production from others. This mechanism made wind
energy production economically viable at both corporate and large farm scales.
Support for renewable energy production was put in place somewhat later in the Czech
Republic than in Germany and the UK, and was heavily influenced by entrance into the
European Union. During the pre-accession period (2000 to 2004), the Czech Republic
agreed an 8% target for renewable energy production by 2010. In the Czech Republic a
discernable 'wave' of biogas production occurred from 2000 to 2005, when German and
Austrian companies saw the economic potential to develop anaerobic digestion in response
to the Czech state's renewable energy commitment. In 2002, the Czech Government started
supporting renewable energy production through price supports, but the stimulation effect
remained small (Vitaskova, 2012).
At regional level, institutional anchoring was well underway in the Wendland-Elbetal
region, with the awarding of a Sustainable Energy Europe award to the district in 2000, a
detailed regional energy use study, and participation in the German 'Regional Action
Programme'. A detailed study of regional energy use and potential as well as the
elaboration of a conversion scenario were undertaken in 2001. In Aberdeenshire, no
specific regional policies were developed but the first commercial on-farm wind turbines
received planning permission in 2004, granted to a farmer who had unsuccessfully
pioneered the technology in the 1980s. In the early 2000s, the Czech region of Vysočina
launched a new grant scheme focused on support for increasing usage of renewable energy
sources in the region. Such financial support directly resulted in construction of six
agricultural biogas digesters. This grant scheme, therefore, represented one of the first
institutional anchorages of alternative energy production at regional level in the Czech case.
Contested transition phase (mid-2000s to present)
As the technologies have proliferated and been integrated into the energy and agricultural
regimes, new landscape pressures and regime challenges have arisen. The significant
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