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

Stability and transformation in the electricity system 111
Recent years (2002 to 2004) show rather high and stable increases of wind
power capacity with around 200 MW and in 2005 total installed wind power
capacity reached 1150 MW 38 . Private investors (farmers, independent power
producers, cooperatives) take the dominant share of investments with
utilities responsible for around a quarter of investments in 2003 and 2004 39 .
Liberalisation of the green electricity market and increasing demand for
green electricity, exemptions for the regulatory energy tax, and increasing
attention for wind energy at different government layers played a role in
creating a more positive climate for wind energy. Global experiences,
continuous expansion of the knowledge base, and further upscaling and
improvement of technological concepts have contributed to strong
expectations regarding wind energy. From 1991 to 2002 global installed
capacity increased 28% annually, and wind farm costs dropped around 20%
for each doubling of cumulative capacity (Junginger et al., 2005). High
expectations regarding off-shore wind farms are shared internationally by
networks involving the oil sector, off-shore sector, energy research institutes,
electricity sector, power equipment producers, finance sector, governments
and NGOs. International experience is growing, with off-shore wind farms
in operation in Denmark and Sweden, and capacity on the North Sea
expected to grow from around 600 MW in 2005 to several thousands
megawatts in the coming two to three years. The Dutch government set a
target for 6000 MW off-shore wind farms in 2020 and recently formulated a
planning scheme for the North Sea which pointed out potentially suitable
locations for off-shore wind farms. At the end of 2004 procedures for
obtaining permits were formalised, leading to 78 concept initiatives by six
consortia for 48 locations with a potential of 21000 MW. This large amount
led the Minister of Economic Affairs in May 2005 to stop applications for
the feed-in premium scheme for off-shore wind farms and biomass as it
threatened to blow up the budget. Apparently, ceilings for maximum budget
were not previously announce and it was not foreseen that attractive feed in
premiums in combination with rising expectations of and preparations for
off-shore wind farms could trigger such a potential rise in investments.
Overall, the increasing global nature of the wind industry, and international
built-up of knowledge and experiences are strong drivers for wind energy
development. Specific implementation of wind energy in the Netherlands
has however been strongly influenced by changes in institutional
arrangements as it developed from a technology-push effort to a much
broader network-based and market-oriented process.
38
Data provided by the Wind Service Holland website, accessed on 4 July 2005 at
http://home.planet.nl/~windsh/statistiek.html.
39
Calculated from data provided by the Wind Service Holland website, accessed on 4 July
2005 at http://home.planet.nl/~windsh/statistiek.html.