IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v13y2009i6-7p1551-1559.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Biomass power: Exploring the diffusion challenges in Spain

Author

Listed:
  • Dinica, Valentina

Abstract

The use of biomass resources for power generation offers numerous benefits of interest for political decision-makers: fuel security, rural and industrial development, ecological benefits. In Spain, policy instruments have been used since 1980 to stimulate biomass power generation. However, the diffusion outcome by 2007 was very disappointing: only 525Â MW. This paper argues that two factors lie at the core of this: the conceptualization of biomass resources by political decision-makers in the instruments used, and the desire that policy instruments be in line with market liberalization principles. These generated a persistent economic obstacle for biomass power generation, and impeded the development of markets for the supply of biomass resources. The policy learning regarding the heterogeneity of biomass resources, and the investors' expectations on risks, profitability and resource markets was very slow among political decision-makers. The paper contributes to the understanding of diffusion outcomes by proposing to analyse diffusion by means of five indicators: types of resources, technologies, developers, motivations to invest and project sizes. Besides, the paper shows the usefulness of investigating policy instruments in terms of their risk and profitability characteristics. This enables a better understanding of the diffusion patterns and outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Dinica, Valentina, 2009. "Biomass power: Exploring the diffusion challenges in Spain," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(6-7), pages 1551-1559, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:13:y:2009:i:6-7:p:1551-1559
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364-0321(08)00170-6
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    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. Dinica, Valentina, 2006. "Support systems for the diffusion of renewable energy technologies--an investor perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 461-480, March.
    2. Lipp, Judith, 2007. "Lessons for effective renewable electricity policy from Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 5481-5495, November.
    3. Wiser, Ryan H., 1997. "Renewable energy finance and project ownership : The impact of alternative development structures on the cost of wind power," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 15-27, January.
    4. Upreti, Bishnu Raj, 2004. "Conflict over biomass energy development in the United Kingdom: some observations and lessons from England and Wales," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 785-800, April.
    5. Langniss, Ole, 1996. "Instruments to foster renewable energy investments in Europe a survey under the financial point of view," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 1112-1115.
    6. Meijer, Ineke S.M. & Hekkert, Marko P. & Koppenjan, Joop F.M., 2007. "The influence of perceived uncertainty on entrepreneurial action in emerging renewable energy technology; biomass gasification projects in the Netherlands," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 5836-5854, November.
    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. Negro, Simona O. & Alkemade, Floortje & Hekkert, Marko P., 2012. "Why does renewable energy diffuse so slowly? A review of innovation system problems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 3836-3846.
    2. de Oliveira, Jofran Luiz & da Silva, Jadir Nogueira & Graciosa Pereira, Emanuele & Oliveira Filho, Delly & Rizzo Carvalho, Daniel, 2013. "Characterization and mapping of waste from coffee and eucalyptus production in Brazil for thermochemical conversion of energy via gasification," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 52-58.
    3. Ehlers, Melf-Hinrich & Sutherland, Lee-Ann, 2016. "Patterns of attention to renewable energy in the British farming press from 1980 to 2013," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 959-973.
    4. Gómez, Antonio & Dopazo, César & Fueyo, Norberto, 2016. "The “cost of not doing” energy planning: The Spanish energy bubble," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 434-446.

    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. Shrimali, Gireesh & Nelson, David & Goel, Shobhit & Konda, Charith & Kumar, Raj, 2013. "Renewable deployment in India: Financing costs and implications for policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 28-43.
    2. Bergek, Anna & Mignon, Ingrid & Sundberg, Gunnel, 2013. "Who invests in renewable electricity production? Empirical evidence and suggestions for further research," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 568-581.
    3. Lüthi, Sonja & Prässler, Thomas, 2011. "Analyzing policy support instruments and regulatory risk factors for wind energy deployment--A developers' perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 4876-4892, September.
    4. Paul Lehmann & Felix Creutzig & Melf-Hinrich Ehlers & Nele Friedrichsen & Clemens Heuson & Lion Hirth & Robert Pietzcker, 2012. "Carbon Lock-Out: Advancing Renewable Energy Policy in Europe," Energies, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-32, February.
    5. Reinhard Madlener & Weiyu Gao & Ilja Neustadt & Peter Zweifel, 2008. "Promoting renewable electricity generation in imperfect markets: price vs. quantity policies," SOI - Working Papers 0809, Socioeconomic Institute - University of Zurich.
    6. Agnolucci, Paolo, 2008. "Factors influencing the likelihood of regulatory changes in renewable electricity policies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 141-161, January.
    7. Wüstenhagen, Rolf & Menichetti, Emanuela, 2012. "Strategic choices for renewable energy investment: Conceptual framework and opportunities for further research," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 1-10.
    8. Avri Eitan, 2021. "Promoting Renewable Energy to Cope with Climate Change—Policy Discourse in Israel," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-17, March.
    9. Gupta, Sandeep Kumar & Purohit, Pallav, 2013. "Renewable energy certificate mechanism in India: A preliminary assessment," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 380-392.
    10. Polzin, Friedemann & Egli, Florian & Steffen, Bjarne & Schmidt, Tobias S., 2019. "How do policies mobilize private finance for renewable energy?—A systematic review with an investor perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C), pages 1249-1268.
    11. Friebe, Christian A. & von Flotow, Paschen & Täube, Florian A., 2014. "Exploring technology diffusion in emerging markets – the role of public policy for wind energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 217-226.
    12. Becker, Bastian & Fischer, Doris, 2013. "Promoting renewable electricity generation in emerging economies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 446-455.
    13. Tim Mennel & Teresa Romano & Sara Scatasta, 2013. "Comparing Feed-In Tariffs and Renewable Obligation Certificates - The Case of Repowering Wind Farms," IEFE Working Papers 57, IEFE, Center for Research on Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    14. Polzin, Friedemann & Migendt, Michael & Täube, Florian A. & von Flotow, Paschen, 2015. "Public policy influence on renewable energy investments—A panel data study across OECD countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 98-111.
    15. Darmani, Anna & Niesten, Eva & Hekkert, Marko, 2014. "Which Investors Drive the Development of Wind Energy?," INDEK Working Paper Series 2014/8, Royal Institute of Technology, Department of Industrial Economics and Management.
    16. Mafakheri, Fereshteh & Nasiri, Fuzhan, 2014. "Modeling of biomass-to-energy supply chain operations: Applications, challenges and research directions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 116-126.
    17. Darmani, Anna & Arvidsson, Niklas & Hidalgo, Antonio & Albors, Jose., 2014. "What drives the development of renewable energy technologies? Toward a typology for the systemic drivers," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 834-847.
    18. Giebel, Olaf & Breitschopf, Barbara, 2011. "The impact of policy elements on the financing costs of RE investment: The case of wind power in Germany," Working Papers "Sustainability and Innovation" S11/2011, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    19. Adams, Michelle & Wheeler, David & Woolston, Genna, 2011. "A participatory approach to sustainable energy strategy development in a carbon-intensive jurisdiction: The case of Nova Scotia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 2550-2559, May.
    20. Nicolini, Marcella & Tavoni, Massimo, 2017. "Are renewable energy subsidies effective? Evidence from Europe," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 412-423.

    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:rensus:v:13:y:2009:i:6-7:p:1551-1559. 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.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    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.