Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
On-farm renewable energy
are frequently located outside of the region under consideration. How these innovations
diffuse and how the MLP can be utilized to understand regional level transitions will be
addressed in subsequent publications. For further detail on the UK case, see Sutherland and
Holstead (2014).
Role of policies
EU, national and regional-level policies have clearly had a major impact on renewable
energy development, acting as 'triggers' to increase uptake of the respective technologies in
all three case study regions. From the 1970s onwards, institutional anchoring through
government policies was evident in the UK and Germany. In Czechoslovakia, national
energy policy followed no clear renewables strategy, and to date there has been no relevant
policy influence at the level of the Czech study region. 'Internalization' of landscape
pressures (such as peak oil and high agricultural commodity prices) is evident in the policy
framework supporting renewable energy production within the energy regime. The decisive
role of EU, national and regional policies can be seen in the 'boom' during the take-off
phase in all three case studies.
While there is a clear climate change emphasis within the renewable energy mandate, it
is also apparent that the Scottish and German governments view renewable energy
production as an economic development opportunity, whereas the Czech Government's
renewable energy policy is anchored in EC directives. Successful regime change may
reflect the business opportunity represented by renewable energy production, enabling
commercial companies to engage in, and pursue, the transition. Accordingly, market price
policy for renewable energy has had a critical impact. Further significant influencing
factors are the availability of, and access to, the grid; (support for the) capacities of farmers
to invest in the technology; bonus payments for certain substrates in the case of biogas; as
well as targeting support at specific scales of facilities (in terms of energy production
capacity). In the 'contested transition' phase (mid-2000s onwards), the immediate impact of
withdrawal or changes to support underline this policy dependence. The growing debate
about sustainability of such supports in all three countries suggests that a suitable public
support model has not yet been found, despite the priority of renewable energy production
in official policies.
In addressing climate change, governments have found it easiest to follow the
traditional 'technological fix' approach, funding renewable energy production. This can be
regarded as a form of 'transition management' in the sense of governments seeking to
actively encourage renewable energy production but seeming less concerned with the
protagonists (see also Wilson, 2012). Only latterly, opportunities for community
development have been recognized; that is, there is growing recognition of the relevance of
the social dimension for innovation and uptake.
Structural implications
The transition to renewable energy production appears to be a relatively minor transition in
the agricultural sector but could nevertheless lead to a 'reconfiguration pathway' in the
agricultural regime, defined by Geels and Schot (2010) as symbiotic innovations which
subsequently trigger further adjustments in the basic architecture of the regime. In all three
Search WWH ::
Custom Search