Innovation and institutional change: the transition to a sustainable ...

96 Chapter 4
hardware” (Hirsh, 1999: 55). Application of gas turbines and
hybridisation with steam turbines ended this stasis;
– The Dutch electricity chose to apply combined cycles when the
technology had proven itself in other countries;
– Availability of natural gas and the gas infrastructure facilitated the
introduction and diffusion of gas turbine technology;
– Although not involved in the development of combined cycles, the Dutch
knowledge infrastructure (Kema, electricity sector, various turbine
producers such as Stork and Thomassen-Werkspoor, the Gasunie) had
sufficient competencies to successfully apply the new technology;
– Government played virtually no direct role in the introduction and
diffusion of gas turbine technology but indirectly played a role due to the
changeover in energy policy towards energy saving and efficiency
improvement.
Figure 4.4 Efficiency evolution of steam turbines (ST), gas turbines (GT),
and combined cycles gas turbines (Islas, 1999: 139).