Market integration of renewable energies through direct marketing - lessons learned from the German market premium scheme

Purkus, Alexandra; Gawel, Erik; Deissenroth, M.; Nienhaus, Kristina; Wassermann, Sandra

doi:10.1186/s13705-015-0040-1

Cited by 30 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…What is more, the label "feed-in tariff" is, at a closer look, partly misleading. Not only are there several intricate degression schedules following spa tial and temporal considerations (i.e., specified reductions of the support level), but also do whol ly different mechanisms by now complement (or even supersede) the feed-in tariff: premium schemes and prototypes of tendering procedures (Gawel and Purkus 2014;Purkus et al 2015). A more detailed exposition of the regulations would be far beyond the scope of this paper -and this very fact constitutes strong evidence in favor of our main argument here: a complex regulatory framework caters to the heterogeneous interests involved in the processes of policy formulation and implementation.…”

Section: Germany's Res Act: Status Quo and Recent Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The political economy of renewable energy policies in Germany and the EU

2016

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in AbstractIn this paper, we employ a public choice perspective to analyze the development of policies for renewable energy sources (RES) in the EU in general and in Germany more specifically. In doing so, we explain the main characteristics of current RES policies in the EU by reference to the self interest driven motivations of voters, stakeholders and political actors. One important puzzle, which we address, is the following: How could effective RES-policies be introduced against the political opposition of fossil-fuel interest groups in the past? Via analyzing the German example in more detail, we show how over time a self-reinforcing interplay of ideological and financial RES support has emerged. Moreover, we demonstrate that observed specific design choices for EU RES policies, such as largely riskless remuneration schemes, high degrees of technology dif ferentiation and decentralized decision-making across Member States, can be traced back to poli ticians' need to balance a variety of partly opposing interests. A major benefit of the presented analysis is that it provides a realistic assessment of the challenges for RES policy reform -any reform effort critically depends on its ability to balance stakeholder interests.

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Section: Germany's Res Act: Status Quo and Recent Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The political economy of renewable energy policies in Germany and the EU

2016

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“…The key influence factor "Biomass availability/forest structure" is influenced by initiatives by policy makers and market actors, but it is also subject to external factors, such as climate change impacts. The potential of expanding the material use of wood is at present limited, one reason being its competition with energetic uses which in Germany have been fostered by the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) in the electricity sector [50], and the Renewable Energy Heating Act (EEWärmeG) in the heating sector [78]. The competition between energetic and material uses is currently distorted, because comparable deployment support for material uses does not yet exist.…”

Section: Resource Availability and Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The limited internalisation of environmental costs distorts competition between renewable resources and fossil fuels, as does the existence of technological and institutional path dependencies which favour a fossil-based "throughput economy" [48,49]. Moreover, competition between energetic and material wood uses is distorted by the existence of deployment support for energetic wood uses, such as feed-in tariffs and feed-in premiums under the German Renewable Energy Sources Act [50], or a reduced Value Added Tax on firewood.…”

Section: Status Quo: Current State and Further Perspectives Of The Womentioning

confidence: 99%

Possible Futures towards a Wood-Based Bioeconomy: A Scenario Analysis for Germany

et al. 2016

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Driven by the growing awareness of the finite nature of fossil raw materials and the need for sustainable pathways of industrial production, the bio-based economy is expected to expand worldwide. Policy strategies such as the European Union Bioeconomy Strategy and national bioeconomy strategies foster this process. Besides the advantages promised by a transition towards a sustainable bioeconomy, these processes have to cope with significant uncertainties as many influencing factors play a role, such as climate change, technological and economic development, sustainability risks, dynamic consumption patterns and policy and governance issues. Based on a literature review and an expert survey, we identify influence factors for the future development of a wood-based bioeconomy in Germany. Four scenarios are generated based on different assumptions about the development of relevant influence factors. We discuss what developments in politics, industry and society have a central impact on shaping alternative futures. As such, the paper provides a knowledge base and orientation for decision makers and practitioners, and contributes to the scientific discussion on how the bioeconomy could develop. We conclude that the wood-based bioeconomy has a certain potential to develop further, if adequate political framework conditions are implemented and meet voter support, if consumers exhibit an enhanced willingness to pay for bio-based products, and if among companies, a chance-oriented advocacy coalition of bioeconomy supporters dominates over proponents of fossil pathways.

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“…A lack of current information about energy policy developments can therefore be a relevant barrier to investments in flexible power generation from biogas plants and adjustments in production behaviour. Meanwhile, in the implementation of direct marketing, intermediaries who pool RES plants play an important role [28,82]. Potentially, intermediaries may be able to improve the flow of up-to-date information to plant operators.…”

Section: Effectiveness Of Current Flexibility Incentives: Biogas Plantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…voluntary curtailment in times of low or negative electricity prices, participation in balancing markets, aligning maintenance with hours of low electricity prices), a flexibility-oriented design of new plants (e. g. with a higher nominal capacity than rated capacity) and technical adjustments of existing plants (e.g. enlargements of gas storage tanks) [10,27,28]. However, the 2014 reform of the EEG has also seen a critical debate about RES support costs in general and bioelectricity generation costs in particular [29].…”

Section: Political Framework Conditions For Biomass Use In the Germanmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contributions of flexible power generation from biomass to a secure and cost-effective electricity supply—a review of potentials, incentives and obstacles in Germany

et al. 2018

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Background: With wind power and photovoltaics, volatile renewables have emerged as central pillars of the energy transition. This increases the demand for flexibility options to compensate fluctuations in power generation. Focussing on the role of bioenergy as a renewable flexibility option, this article seeks to address two questions. The first is whether there is an option value of bioenergy as a provider of low-carbon flexibility in a future power system, which might justify continued technology-specific deployment support. The second question is whether existing market and policy incentives are effective in activating flexibility potentials, and what perspectives exist for increasing flexibility incentives. Methods: The article follows an interdisciplinary approach. First, technical potentials for flexible bioenergy plants and potential systemic contributions are examined. This is followed by an economic assessment of what flexibility incentives are provided by relevant market and policy framework conditions. Findings: Power from biomass can be well suited to provide flexible generation for grid stabilisation and residual load balancing. Biogas plants require an increase of nominal power over rated power, whereas the technical flexibilisation potential of solid biomass plants depends on specific technologies. Particularly, small-scale combined heat and power systems can deliver fast responses. For existing biogas plants, the Renewable Energy Sources Act's (EEG) flexibility premium and balancing market revenues have incentivised some changes in the production behaviour and investments in plant flexibilisation. However, decreasing spot market price levels and decreasing price variance reduce incentive strength. This also limits flexibilisation incentives for solid biomass plants. For new biogas plants, the EEG's remuneration rules set effective flexibility incentives, but 2014 reductions in remuneration rates have significantly slowed down the expansion. Conclusions: Given high technical potentials for flexibility provision, there is an option value of keeping bioelectricity in the technology mix until more is known about its future competitiveness with other low-carbon flexibility options. To maintain this option value, there is a case for setting policy incentives in a way that continued technological development remains possible. A stringent climate policy could accelerate structural change in the electricity sector, to allow for market price signals which incentivise low-carbon flexibility provision.

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Market integration of renewable energies through direct marketing - lessons learned from the German market premium scheme

Cited by 30 publications

References 13 publications

The political economy of renewable energy policies in Germany and the EU

The political economy of renewable energy policies in Germany and the EU

Possible Futures towards a Wood-Based Bioeconomy: A Scenario Analysis for Germany

Contributions of flexible power generation from biomass to a secure and cost-effective electricity supply—a review of potentials, incentives and obstacles in Germany

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