Renewable Energy: Political and Policy Analysis

Abstract

The deployment of renewable energy sources has been discussed intensively from both economic and technical points of view. However, the large-scale deployment of renewable energy sources must go beyond single projects and involve a large variety of stakeholders as well broad public support. Therefore, the human factors in energy transition connected to the deployment of renewable energy sources become important. These human factors include social and public support for renewable energy projects, willingness to use technology and to pay for electricity generated by renewable energy sources, as well as willingness to participate in decision-making processes around the implementation of renewable energy projects. This contribution reviews experiences with the deployment of renewable energy sources in various countries, with a particular focus on Austria and Jordan. The results show that this process is a wicked policy problem that involves a variety of interests and opinions. Decision-making around the deployment of renewable energy projects and the setting of energy policy targets takes place at various governance levels. Energy transition plans might fail if human factors are not addressed. This contribution brings together experience with human factors in energy transition and background from behavioral economics to discuss best practices for addressing human factors and developing compromise solutions while bridging the interests and opinions of various stakeholders and involving the public in various decision-making processes around energy transition.