Project description

There is a growing awareness of the environmental consequences of the existing predominantly fossil-based stationary energy system, which puts the energy sector under scrutiny from civil society as well as regulatory agencies. A growing consensus may therefore also be detected about the need for ecologically inspired innovations through the development, introduction and diffusion of clean energy technologies and an increase in the use of renewable energy sources (RES) in energy and electricity production systems.
This project was linked to ongoing research in Germany and the Nordic countries within the field of green electricity policy. The ambition of the joint project was to add on a broader comparative Northern European dimension to already existing Nordic and Continental research on regulatory strategies to promote green electricity.
The joint project compared different regulatory approaches including technology-oriented and market-oriented, and reported on regulatory approaches to green electricity development and embraced the alternative strategies that promote renewable energy introduction (i.e. bottom-up industrial self-regulation and co-regulation in addition to top-down regulatory strategies). Finally, the project has seeked to communicate the comparative findings on governance strategies and their impact on green and renewable energy diffusion.