Der Ausbau von Offshore-Windparks in Deutschland aus einer Innovationsperspektive

Abstract

Policy instruments are of central importance for the diffusion of renewable energy technologies. They can compensate for politically desired effects (e.g. reduction of emissions) which are not adequately addressed by the market. This relation can also be seen in the development of offshore wind energy in Germany. However, I argue in this paper that the policy instruments implemented during the initial phase of the development were not only unsuitable for diminishing obstacles but rather created conflicts which hampered the development of offshore wind energy. Especially the lack of spatial regulations in the beginning of the process promoted conflicts of use and environmental conflicts and led to an uncontrolled development which prevented an efficient grid connection. By modifying old or implementing new instruments political actors tried to improve the framing conditions for the development of offshore wind energy in Germany. Based on a document analysis and expert interviews, these regulatory efforts are analysed from an innovation perspective using the constellation analysis, which specifically takes the interaction of the various policy instruments and central socio-economic, technical and natural factors into account. This way it can be shown that it was only after a lengthy learning and negotiation process that suitable policy instruments were implemented that led to the development of overall suitable framework conditions for the development of offshore wind energy.