Next Generation of Renewable Electricity Policy: How Rapid Change is Breaking Down Conventional Policy Categories
- E3 Analytics, Berlin (Germany)
- International Energy Transition (IET), Boston, MA (United States)
- Meister Consultants Group, Boston, MA (United States)
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
A number of policies have been used historically in order to stimulate the growth of the renewable electricity sector. This paper examines four of these policy instruments: competitive tendering, sometimes called renewable electricity auctions, feed-in tariffs, net metering and net billing, and tradable renewable energy certificates. In recent years, however, a number of changes to both market circumstances and to policy priorities have resulted in numerous policy innovations, including the emergence of policy hybrids. With no common language for these evolving policy mechanisms, policymakers have generally continued to use the same traditional policy labels, occasionally generating confusion as many of these new policies no longer look, or act, like their traditional predecessors. In reviewing these changes, this paper makes two separate but related claims: first, policy labels themselves are breaking down and evolving. As a result, policy comparisons that rely on the conventional labels may no longer be appropriate, or advisable. Second, as policymakers continue to adapt, we are in effect witnessing the emergence of the next generation of renewable electricity policies, a change that could have significant impacts on investment, as well as on market growth in both developed and developing countries.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- OSTI ID:
- 1172282
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/TP-7A40-63149
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY
POLICIES
POLICY INSTRUMENTS
COMPETITIVE TENDERING
AUCTIONS
FEED-IN TARIFFS
NET METERING
NET BILLING
TRADABLE RENEWABLE ENERGY CERTIFICATES
POLICY LABELS
POLICY COMPARISONS