Introduction: Renewable Energy Governance: Is it Blocking the Technically Feasible?

Abstract

Answers on Renewable Energy (RE) governance have been sought through many initiatives, Directives and legislative instruments, but to what extent the needs of RE have been met through these developments or to what extent questions have been appropriately answered remains debatable. In a dynamic world which is affected by external drivers, such as financial crises and geopolitical manoeuvrings, private companies seem to be at the forefront of RE deployment but they also lag behind or just shut down: why is this happening in the massively expanding RE sector? National governments can back up the whole RE deployment system, or create an investment boom, but they employ different criteria and differences in approaches which maybe suggests there is no “best” model when it comes to governance of RE systems. In the middle of this game with differing rules are the energy consumers, the general public, to whom RE benefits are deemed to accrue, but not without cost. Questions are beginning to emerge from consumers about costs and benefits of their governments policy on RE. The most bespoke of questions is “what is RE finally for”, where and to whom do the benefits really accrue? What do you see when you look behind the financial and institutional cloak of subsidised RE delivery?