Marketing of new technologies: the case of renewable energies in the UK

Abstract

The market in the UK for renewable energy is arguably at a very critical phase in its development. Key drivers for current policy include energy security, climate change and energy prices, added to which the UK has agreed specific targets with other EU countries to help meet these challenges. The paper includes a general overview of worldwide energy demand and a comprehensive overview of renewable energy alternatives. Based on that, it describes the development of the UK renewables marketplace with a market overview including a summary of selected key organisations currently operating. Finally, this paper recapitulates the key findings of our quantitative research, based on a survey of 65 organisations operating in the market, into the state of the UK market, including a view on the trends and outlook for the future. Finally, the paper offers some concluding remarks which state, among others, that the UK market is still in its early stages compared to the EU and in general the renewable energies markets are growing internationally.