IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v85y2016icp206-214.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Adoption of renewable energy technologies in oil-rich countries: Explaining policy variation in the Gulf Cooperation Council states

Author

Listed:
  • Atalay, Yasemin
  • Biermann, Frank
  • Kalfagianni, Agni

Abstract

While the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council have economically and politically been dominated by the exploitation of fossil fuels, recent years have seen an increasing adoption of renewable energy technologies, the reasons of which are not yet sufficiently understood. This paper argues that the recent adoption of renewable energy technologies in the Gulf and its striking variation can be explained by theories of policy transfer. In addition, we find some support for the alternative hypothesis of endogenous policy development regarding political leadership. Yet there is no support for the alternative hypothesis of a strong direct influence of the international climate regime. Furthermore, the policy transfer hypothesis and political leadership stand as coexisting influences on renewable energy adoption, rather than competing ones. Based on an extensive study of primary and secondary sources, local reports and country analyses of international organizations, and personal interviews with key experts, this paper lays out in detail how transfers of renewable energy policies take place in the Gulf; their drivers; and their impacts. We also discuss the factors that lead countries to lag behind, which can be helpful for prospective research on a more extensive utilization of renewable energy in the region and beyond.

Suggested Citation

  • Atalay, Yasemin & Biermann, Frank & Kalfagianni, Agni, 2016. "Adoption of renewable energy technologies in oil-rich countries: Explaining policy variation in the Gulf Cooperation Council states," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 206-214.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:85:y:2016:i:c:p:206-214
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2015.06.045
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148115300689
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2015.06.045?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alnaser, W.E. & Al-Karaghouli, A., 2000. "Wind availability and its power utility for electricity production in Bahrain," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 247-254.
    2. Rehman, Shafiqur & Bader, Maher A. & Al-Moallem, Said A., 2007. "Cost of solar energy generated using PV panels," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 11(8), pages 1843-1857, October.
    3. Albadi, M.H. & El-Saadany, E.F. & Albadi, H.A., 2009. "Wind to power a new city in Oman," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 1579-1586.
    4. 淑英 徐 & Joseph Galaskiewicz, 2011. "Editors' Forum: Research and Publishing Ethics," Management and Organization Review, The International Association for Chinese Management Research, vol. 7(3), pages 1-8, November.
    5. 觉 梁, 2011. "Editors' Forum: Research and Publishing Ethics," Management and Organization Review, The International Association for Chinese Management Research, vol. 7(3), pages 85-94, November.
    6. Dorvlo, A.S.S & Ampratwum, D.B, 2002. "Wind energy potential for Oman," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 333-338.
    7. Oliver James & Martin Lodge, 2003. "The Limitations of ‘Policy Transfer’ and ‘Lesson Drawing’ for Public Policy Research," Political Studies Review, Political Studies Association, vol. 1(2), pages 179-193, April.
    8. Doukas, Haris & Patlitzianas, Konstantinos D. & Kagiannas, Argyris G. & Psarras, John, 2006. "Renewable energy sources and rationale use of energy development in the countries of GCC: Myth or reality?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 755-770.
    9. 晓萍 陈, 2011. "Editors' Forum: Research and Publishing Ethics," Management and Organization Review, The International Association for Chinese Management Research, vol. 7(3), pages 35-44, November.
    10. Alawaji, Saleh H., 2001. "Evaluation of solar energy research and its applications in Saudi Arabia -- 20 years of experience," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 59-77, March.
    11. Reiche, Danyel, 2010. "Energy Policies of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries--possibilities and limitations of ecological modernization in rentier states," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 2395-2403, May.
    12. Al Malki, Ahmed & Al Amri, Mohamme & Al Jabri, Hamoud, 1998. "Experimental study of using renewable energy in the rural areas of Oman," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 319-324.
    13. Jon Barnett, 2008. "The Worst of Friends: OPEC and G-77 in the Climate Regime," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 8(4), pages 1-8, November.
    14. Alnatheer, Othman, 2005. "The potential contribution of renewable energy to electricity supply in Saudi Arabia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(18), pages 2298-2312, December.
    15. Barnett, Jon & Dessai, Suraje & Webber, Michael, 2004. "Will OPEC lose from the Kyoto Protocol?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(18), pages 2077-2088, December.
    16. Alnaser, W. E., 1995. "Renewable energy resources in the state of Bahrain," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 23-30.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Flávia Guerra & Yasemin Atalay, 2022. "The Energy Transition and the Changing Nature of Governance: Analyzing Evidence from the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 65(1), pages 54-58, March.
    2. Zofia Gródek-Szostak & Małgorzata Luc & Anna Szeląg-Sikora & Jakub Sikora & Marcin Niemiec & Luis Ochoa Siguencia & Emil Velinov, 2020. "Promotion of RES in a Technology Transfer Network. Case Study of the Enterprise Europe Network," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-13, July.
    3. Smeets, Niels, 2017. "Similar goals, divergent motives. The enabling and constraining factors of Russia's capacity-based renewable energy support scheme," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 138-149.
    4. Li-Chen Sim, 2023. "Renewable Energy and Governance Resilience in the Gulf," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-17, April.
    5. Saleh, Ali Salman & Moradi-Motlagh, Amir & Zeitun, Rami, 2020. "What are the drivers of inefficiency in the Gulf Cooperation Council banking industry? A comparison between conventional and Islamic banks," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    6. Wang, Qiang & Kwan, Mei-Po & Fan, Jie & Zhou, Kan & Wang, Ya-Fei, 2019. "A study on the spatial distribution of the renewable energy industries in China and their driving factors," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 161-175.
    7. Anas A. Makki & Ibrahim Mosly, 2020. "Factors Affecting Public Willingness to Adopt Renewable Energy Technologies: An Exploratory Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-11, January.
    8. Griffiths, Steven, 2017. "A review and assessment of energy policy in the Middle East and North Africa region," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 249-269.
    9. Tehreem Fatima & Grzegorz Mentel & Buhari Doğan & Zeeshan Hashim & Umer Shahzad, 2022. "Investigating the role of export product diversification for renewable, and non-renewable energy consumption in GCC (gulf cooperation council) countries: does the Kuznets hypothesis exist?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(6), pages 8397-8417, June.
    10. Alsayegh, Osamah & Saker, Nathalie & Alqattan, Ayman, 2018. "Integrating sustainable energy strategy with the second development plan of Kuwait," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 3430-3440.
    11. Boute, Anatole & Zhikharev, Alexey, 2019. "Vested interests as driver of the clean energy transition: Evidence from Russia's solar energy policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    12. Al-Maamary, Hilal M.S. & Kazem, Hussein A. & Chaichan, Miqdam T., 2017. "Climate change: The game changer in the Gulf Cooperation Council Region," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 555-576.
    13. Alsadi, Hanan, 2020. "Potential Influences on the Prospect of Renewable Energy Development in OPEC Members," OSF Preprints mhca2, Center for Open Science.
    14. Carlos Méndez & Yusuf Bicer, 2019. "Qatar’s Wind Energy Potential with Associated Financial and Environmental Benefits for the Natural Gas Industry," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-19, August.
    15. Tatiana Nevzorova, 2020. "Biogas Production in the Russian Federation: Current Status, Potential, and Barriers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-21, July.
    16. Atalay, Yasemin & Kalfagianni, Agni & Pattberg, Philipp, 2017. "Renewable energy support mechanisms in the Gulf Cooperation Council states: Analyzing the feasibility of feed-in tariffs and auction mechanisms," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 723-733.
    17. Anser, Muhammad Khalid & Yousaf, Zahid & Nassani, Abdelmohsen A. & Vo, Xuan Vinh & Zaman, Khalid, 2020. "Evaluating ‘natural resource curse’ hypothesis under sustainable information technologies: A case study of Saudi Arabia," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    18. J. Sadhik Basha & Tahereh Jafary & Ranjit Vasudevan & Jahanzeb Khan Bahadur & Muna Al Ajmi & Aadil Al Neyadi & Manzoore Elahi M. Soudagar & MA Mujtaba & Abrar Hussain & Waqar Ahmed & Kiran Shahapurkar, 2021. "Potential of Utilization of Renewable Energy Technologies in Gulf Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-29, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Doukas, Haris & Patlitzianas, Konstantinos D. & Kagiannas, Argyris G. & Psarras, John, 2006. "Renewable energy sources and rationale use of energy development in the countries of GCC: Myth or reality?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 755-770.
    2. Rahman, Syed Masiur & Khondaker, A.N., 2012. "Mitigation measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance carbon capture and storage in Saudi Arabia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 2446-2460.
    3. Hepbasli, Arif & Alsuhaibani, Zeyad, 2011. "A key review on present status and future directions of solar energy studies and applications in Saudi Arabia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(9), pages 5021-5050.
    4. Radhi, Hassan, 2012. "Trade-off between environmental and economic implications of PV systems integrated into the UAE residential sector," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 2468-2474.
    5. Iskander Tlili, 2015. "Renewable energy in Saudi Arabia: current status and future potentials," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 859-886, August.
    6. Patlitzianas, Konstantinos D. & Doukas, Haris & Askounis, Dimitris Th., 2007. "An assessment of the sustainable energy investments in the framework of the EU–GCC cooperation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 1689-1704.
    7. Simon, James David & Brooks, Devon, 2016. "Post-investigation service need and utilization among families at risk of maltreatment," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 223-232.
    8. AL-Yahyai, Sultan & Charabi, Yassine & Gastli, Adel & Al-Alawi, Saleh, 2010. "Assessment of wind energy potential locations in Oman using data from existing weather stations," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 1428-1436, June.
    9. Ramli, Makbul A.M. & Twaha, Ssennoga & Al-Hamouz, Zakariya, 2017. "Analyzing the potential and progress of distributed generation applications in Saudi Arabia: The case of solar and wind resources," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 287-297.
    10. Krogscheepers, Corris & Gossel, Sean Joss, 2015. "Input cost and international demand effects on the production of platinum group metals in South Africa," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 193-201.
    11. Karim, Md. Ershadul & Munir, Abu Bakar & Reza, Ahmed Wasif & Muhammad-Sukki, Firdaus & Mohd Yasin, Siti Hajar & Abu-Bakar, Siti Hawa & Abdul Rahim, Ruzairi, 2015. "Too enthusiastic to care for safety: Present status and recent developments of nanosafety in ASEAN countries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 168-181.
    12. Alyami, Saleh. H. & Rezgui, Yacine & Kwan, Alan, 2013. "Developing sustainable building assessment scheme for Saudi Arabia: Delphi consultation approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 43-54.
    13. Arouri, Mohamed El Hedi & Ben Youssef, Adel & M'henni, Hatem & Rault, Christophe, 2012. "Energy consumption, economic growth and CO2 emissions in Middle East and North African countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 342-349.
    14. Kutoma J. Wakunuma & Bernd Carsten Stahl, 2014. "Tomorrow’s ethics and today’s response: An investigation into the ways information systems professionals perceive and address emerging ethical issues," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 383-397, July.
    15. Nizar Harrathi & Ahmed Almohaimeed, 2022. "Determinants of Carbon Dioxide Emissions: New Empirical Evidence from MENA Countries," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 12(1), pages 469-482.
    16. Alnaser, W.E. & Probert, S.D. & El-Masri, S. & Al-Khalifa, S.E. & Flanagan, R. & Alnaser, N.W., 2006. "Bahrain's Formula-1 racing circuit: energy and environmental considerations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 83(4), pages 352-370, April.
    17. Sharples, Steve & Radhi, Hassan, 2013. "Assessing the technical and economic performance of building integrated photovoltaics and their value to the GCC society," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 150-159.
    18. Abdul Mujeebu, Muhammad & Alshamrani, Othman Subhi, 2016. "Prospects of energy conservation and management in buildings – The Saudi Arabian scenario versus global trends," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1647-1663.
    19. Alrashed, Farajallah & Asif, Muhammad, 2015. "Analysis of critical climate related factors for the application of zero-energy homes in Saudi Arabia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1395-1403.
    20. Sgouridis, Sgouris & Abdullah, Ayu & Griffiths, Steve & Saygin, Deger & Wagner, Nicholas & Gielen, Dolf & Reinisch, Hannes & McQueen, Dane, 2016. "RE-mapping the UAE’s energy transition: An economy-wide assessment of renewable energy options and their policy implications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 1166-1180.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:85:y:2016:i:c:p:206-214. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.