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

Stability and transformation in the electricity system 109
implementation. The fact that wind power capacity has grown steeply in
Germany, with similar levels of public acceptance as in the Netherlands
(Wolsink, 2000), indicates that this is not the major problem. Factors playing
a role in Germany are a much more effective planning system, with potential
wind locations earmarked in zoning schemes which enables shorter
procedures, and stable incentives through the electricity feed law and its
feed-in tariffs for wind power.
Liberalisation fosters implementation of wind energy by other actors
Actors involved in implementation of wind energy were energy distributors,
private project developers, agriculturists and co-operatives. Initially, the
distributors were the most important through the years in terms of
ownership, but new independent power producers became more prominent
after the phasing of liberalisation was formalised through the electricity act
of 1998, and renewable based electricity was exempted from the regulatory
energy tax. Although not all plans of the distributors turned out so well, at
the end of the nineties about 50% of installed capacity was owned by the
utilities (WSH, 2000). Two factors were mainly responsible: the
environmental action plans of the distribution sector and the emergence of
green electricity as a separate product and market. Opening up of the
electricity market due to liberalisation also reduced entry problems of other
actors, for example through the development of beneficial rules for
connection to and use of the grid. Until liberalisation distributors had been
able to shape the conditions under which local producers could enter the
grid, often resulting in relatively high costs for those producers. Especially
small private investors, independent power producers and cooperatives were
able to expand their installed capacity after the liberalisation of the green
electricity market in 2001 (Agterbosch et al., 2004). Table 4.4 shows the
evolution of wind capacity in the Netherlands and the acceleration that took
place after 2001. Implementation of wind energy did not realize the target of
1000 MW in 2000 that were announced in 1985. The main barrier for further
uptake of wind energy was the shortage of wind locations, often due to the
difficulty of obtaining sites through legal procedures and overcoming
objections. Also while ambitious targets were set by the national
government, lower governmental bodies were much less committed to
implementation. Several further initiatives were taken to escape the deadlock
with regard to siting, especially since the liberalisation of the green
electricity in 2001 led to a shortage of domestic locations for renewable
energy. They included preparations for offshore sites for wind farms and
establishing administrative agreements with provinces and municipalities for
uptake of wind energy.