Wind Power in Denmark

Abstract

In technological policy literature, the term “path dependency” frequently emerges in attempts to explain why a given technological track develops. The premise behind the notion of technological path dependency is that historical social, technological, economic, and political forces foster conditions for a particular technology to thrive. Once a technology becomes dominant, vested interests—which profit from the technology—hinder radical change, because change carries an implicit threat that those benefitting from the status quo might suffer an erosion of economic benefits. To illustrate path dependency, consider the history of the QWERTY keyboard (referring to the sequencing of letters from left to right on the top row of a standard computer keyboard). Keyboards on typewriters were designed in this way to reduce mechanical type hammers from clashing with each other. Over time, type hammers were made obsolete by type-balls. Nevertheless, the QWERTY keyboard remained unchanged (even in this day of computerized word processing)—despite the fact that research has shown the QWERTY layout to be inferior in terms of optimizing typing speed. This layout has perpetuated because legions of typists have learned on the QWERTY keyboard; therefore, technological familiarity has insulated this design feature from change. The notion of path dependency is relevant to the story of wind power development in Denmark because, as will be described in this chapter, a number of social, economic, technological, and political forces shepherded Denmark’s ascent to the top position as the nation with the world’s highest percentage of wind power contributing to national electricity generation. In addition to illustrating the influence of technological momentum, there are two other contemplative policy insights to be gleaned from studying wind power diffusion in Denmark. First, Denmark’s wind power development experience demonstrates that grassroots support mechanisms which engage communities and individuals in the development process bolster the effectiveness of economic incentives. Second, Denmark’s wind power story demonstrates that establishing a technological foothold is never a guarantee of uncontested market entrenchment. As any technology matures, its impact on society, business and political fortunes evolves.