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

Evolution of decentral cogeneration in the Netherlands 137
in the Netherlands and the disadvantageous position of industrial electricity
generators with regard to delivering electricity to the grid. Concrete results
were the covenant between industry and the electricity sector regarding the
tariffs for connection of industrial producers to the grid, and a restitution by
the Ministry of Economic Affairs compensating additional energy costs
inflicted on industry due to higher prices relative to neighbouring countries
(VKW, 1979; Buiter and Hesselmans, 1999: 126, 130, 140). Two further
developments were crucial for the uptake of cogeneration. The gas turbine
became an efficient and flexible device for electricity generation after the
Second World War (Islas, 1999). With increasing concern over efficiency
and the growing importance of energy saving the uptake of the gas turbine
enabled increases in overall efficiency and reliability of the electricity
system, by adopting it first as a device for peak generation, and later through
hybridisation with the steam turbine. The gas turbine was also an attractive
technology for Dutch process industry due to its high efficiency at lower
scales for the combined utilisation of electricity and steam for process
purposes. In the Netherlands the first gas turbines were installed in the
chemical industry in 1968, at the same time when gas turbines were installed
by some energy companies (Verbong, 2000: 230). The second development
facilitating utilisation of the gas turbine and cogeneration was the
availability of Dutch gas and its extensive infrastructure.
Attention for cogeneration was triggered by a number of reinforcing factors.
Foremost, the two oil crises turned attention towards potential for energy
saving and towards alternative forms of electricity generation. Secondly,
from the seventies on there is a continuous reduction in legitimacy and
credibility of nuclear energy as the dominant future form of electricity
generation. Thirdly, the role of high energy prices, especially after the
second oil crisis, in combination with high energy intensity led Dutch
industry to adopt a promising emerging technology, the gas turbine, for
cogeneration purposes. And fourthly, the oil crisis, environmental and
nuclear concerns led to the mobilisation of actors with alternative visions
regarding the way the electricity system should evolve. The resulting
fundamental patterns of institutional change became especially visible in the
early eighties during the broad societal discussion on the future of the energy
system and the position of nuclear energy. Four main issues were
discussed 14 , challenging existing principles of the electricity system, and
14 Issue one was further development of nuclear energy or not. Issue two involved a focus on
energy saving or facilitating growth of energy consumption. Issue three questioned a
further centralisation of the system or the uptake of decentralised alternatives. Issue four
focussed on allowing for private parties for the production and sale of electricity, implying
corrosion of monopolistic organisation of the sector (SMDE, 1983).