‘Greening' economic growth discourses are increasingly replacing the catchword of ‘sustainable development' within national and international policy circles. The core of the argument is that the growth of modern economies may be sustained or even augmented, while policy intervention...

We analyze various regulatory regimes for electricity transmission investment in the context of a transformation of the power system towards renewable energy. We study distinctive developments of the generation mix with different implications on network congestion, assuming that a shift from...

We examine the effect of energy prices and technological knowledge on innovation in green energy technologies. In doing so, we consider both demand-pull effects, which induce innovative activity by increasing the expected value of innovations, and technology-push effects, which drive innovative...

The Chinese government is vigorously promoting commercialization of renewable energy and bioproducts, given environmental issues plus food, energy, and national security concerns, according to Chinese industry experts at the August 2010 “China Bioenergy Workshop” and its related technical...

Financing renewable energy projects in the United States can be a complex, time consuming, and expensive process. Currently, most equity investment in new renewable power production facilities is supported by tax credits and accelerated depreciation benefits, and is constrained by the pool of...

We examine investments in power generation projects under policy uncertainty, when the investor has the choice between two alternative technologies, a gas-fired plant and a wind plant. Increased risk of subsidy withdrawal reduces the payoff from and postpones investments in the wind technology....

The Obama administration has repeatedly identified the large-scale build-out of clean, renewable energy infrastructure as a key priority of the United States. The President's calls for a cleaner energy economy are often accompanied by references to other industrialized countries such as Germany,...

Over the last years EU energy policy has strongly focused on the development of renewable energy, also through the adoption of a dedicated 2020 target. But is the EU currently on track to meet this target? With this article, FEEM energy analysts Manfred Hafner and Simone Tagliapietra aim to...

This article introduces and overviews U.S. renewable energy policy. It describes the shape, content, and contours of that policy, including its emphases and functions in both the electricity and transportation sectors of the U.S. economy. To do so, the article builds a conceptual model that can...

Energy-related investments have been on a track of constant development since the global expansion of energy utilization and the rapid increase of energy demand both regarding industrial use and consumer consumption. Fundamental trends in the European Union and the world at large provide an...