National and International Learning with Wind Power

Abstract

Learning is crucial for technical development, cost reduction and deployment of new energy technologies. The nature of the learning process can be either national or international, which will be crucial in the design of policy measures. In this paper the spatial scope of learning is described for the case of wind power. Based on this the rationale of national vs. international policy support is discussed. With wind power technology getting more mature, the scope of learning gets more and more international. This calls for an international coordination of public policies which are targeted on research, development and deployment. At the same time, national policies remain crucial for further deployment since sufficient budgets are only available in national frameworks. Moreover, national deployment is important to exploit national specific learning opportunities and cost reduction potentials due to better operation of plants and specifically adapted design of machines.