IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v14y2021i13p3940-d586556.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Energy Transitions in Western European Countries: Regulation Comparative Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Federica Cucchiella

    (Department of Industrial and Information Engineering and Economics, University of L’Aquila, Via G. Gronchi n. 18, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy)

  • Alessia Condemi

    (Department of Industrial and Information Engineering and Economics, University of L’Aquila, Via G. Gronchi n. 18, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy)

  • Marianna Rotilio

    (Department of Civil, Construction-Architectural and Environmental Engineering, University of L’Aquila, Via G. Gronchi n. 18, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy)

  • Valeria Annibaldi

    (Department of Industrial and Information Engineering and Economics, University of L’Aquila, Via G. Gronchi n. 18, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy)

Abstract

Shifting from fossil to renewable energy sources is a major global challenge, and in this context, the European Union has promoted sustainable and environmentally friendly growth as early as the Maastricht Treaty of 1992. To date, European institutions have promulgated a series of environmental regulations and directives aimed at promoting and imposing adoption by member states of internal regulations. This paper is focused on Western Europe, and it explores, for each state under analysis, energy policies adopted, the results achieved and recommendations for the future growth of renewable energy. The results show that in countries where energy policy is not fragmented, the yield in renewable energies has been higher, and also in the states where more and various forms of subsidies are foreseen, growth seems to be greater. Finally, the paper provides useful recommendations and future policy implications for states that have not met the 2020 targets.

Suggested Citation

  • Federica Cucchiella & Alessia Condemi & Marianna Rotilio & Valeria Annibaldi, 2021. "Energy Transitions in Western European Countries: Regulation Comparative Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-23, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:13:p:3940-:d:586556
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/13/3940/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/13/3940/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/11505qn4ak95irt0cafaeim81j is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Dell, Gerhard & Egger, Christiane & Grübl, Andreas, 1996. "Renewable energy in Austria," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 1116-1119.
    3. Würzburg, Klaas & Labandeira, Xavier & Linares, Pedro, 2013. "Renewable generation and electricity prices: Taking stock and new evidence for Germany and Austria," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(S1), pages 159-171.
    4. Deuten, Sebastiaan & Gómez Vilchez, Jonatan J. & Thiel, Christian, 2020. "Analysis and testing of electric car incentive scenarios in the Netherlands and Norway," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    5. Paul Baustert & Tomás Navarrete Gutiérrez & Thomas Gibon & Laurent Chion & Tai-Yu Ma & Gabriel Leite Mariante & Sylvain Klein & Philippe Gerber & Enrico Benetto, 2019. "Coupling Activity-Based Modeling and Life Cycle Assessment—A Proof-of-Concept Study on Cross-Border Commuting in Luxembourg," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-24, July.
    6. Karl Steininger & Herbert Voraberger, 2003. "Exploiting the Medium Term Biomass Energy Potentials in Austria: A Comparison of Costs and Macroeconomic Impact," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 24(4), pages 359-377, April.
    7. Brouwer, Anne Sjoerd & van den Broek, Machteld & Zappa, William & Turkenburg, Wim C. & Faaij, André, 2016. "Least-cost options for integrating intermittent renewables in low-carbon power systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 48-74.
    8. Jurasz, Jakub & Dąbek, Paweł B. & Kaźmierczak, Bartosz & Kies, Alexander & Wdowikowski, Marcin, 2018. "Large scale complementary solar and wind energy sources coupled with pumped-storage hydroelectricity for Lower Silesia (Poland)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 183-192.
    9. Andriosopoulos, Kostas & Silvestre, Stephan, 2017. "French energy policy: A gradual transition," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 376-381.
    10. Grau, Thilo & Huo, Molin & Neuhoff, Karsten, 2012. "Survey of photovoltaic industry and policy in Germany and China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 20-37.
    11. Ramos, V. & Giannini, G. & Calheiros-Cabral, T. & Rosa-Santos, P. & Taveira-Pinto, F., 2021. "Legal framework of marine renewable energy: A review for the Atlantic region of Europe," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    12. Schmidt, Johannes & Cancella, Rafael & Pereira, Amaro O., 2016. "The role of wind power and solar PV in reducing risks in the Brazilian hydro-thermal power system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(P3), pages 1748-1757.
    13. Chang, Yen-Chiang & Wang, Nannan, 2017. "Legal system for the development of marine renewable energy in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 192-196.
    14. Ebers Broughel, Anna & Hampl, Nina, 2018. "Community financing of renewable energy projects in Austria and Switzerland: Profiles of potential investors," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 722-736.
    15. Mikova, Nadezhda & Eichhammer, Wolfgang & Pfluger, Benjamin, 2019. "Low-carbon energy scenarios 2050 in north-west European countries: Towards a more harmonised approach to achieve the EU targets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 448-460.
    16. Limpens, Gauthier & Jeanmart, Hervé, 2018. "Electricity storage needs for the energy transition: An EROI based analysis illustrated by the case of Belgium," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 960-973.
    17. Krakowski, Vincent & Assoumou, Edi & Mazauric, Vincent & Maïzi, Nadia, 2016. "Feasible path toward 40–100% renewable energy shares for power supply in France by 2050: A prospective analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 501-522.
    18. Kranzl, Lukas & Hummel, Marcus & Müller, Andreas & Steinbach, Jan, 2013. "Renewable heating: Perspectives and the impact of policy instruments," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 44-58.
    19. Adams, Samuel & Klobodu, Edem Kwame Mensah & Apio, Alfred, 2018. "Renewable and non-renewable energy, regime type and economic growth," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 755-767.
    20. Hansen, Kenneth & Mathiesen, Brian Vad & Skov, Iva Ridjan, 2019. "Full energy system transition towards 100% renewable energy in Germany in 2050," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 1-13.
    21. de Frutos Cachorro, J. & Willeghems, G. & Buysse, J., 2019. "Strategic investment decisions under the nuclear power debate in Belgium," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 156-184.
    22. Potrč, Sanja & Čuček, Lidija & Martin, Mariano & Kravanja, Zdravko, 2021. "Sustainable renewable energy supply networks optimization – The gradual transition to a renewable energy system within the European Union by 2050," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    23. Poinssot, Ch. & Bourg, S. & Ouvrier, N. & Combernoux, N. & Rostaing, C. & Vargas-Gonzalez, M. & Bruno, J., 2014. "Assessment of the environmental footprint of nuclear energy systems. Comparison between closed and open fuel cycles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 199-211.
    24. Simoes, Sofia & Zeyringer, Marianne & Mayr, Dieter & Huld, Thomas & Nijs, Wouter & Schmidt, Johannes, 2017. "Impact of different levels of geographical disaggregation of wind and PV electricity generation in large energy system models: A case study for Austria," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 183-198.
    25. Lynch, Muireann Á. & Tol, Richard S.J. & O'Malley, Mark J., 2012. "Optimal interconnection and renewable targets for north-west Europe," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 605-617.
    26. Deane, J.P. & Driscoll, Á. & Gallachóir, B.P Ó, 2015. "Quantifying the impacts of national renewable electricity ambitions using a North–West European electricity market model," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 604-609.
    27. Hashemizadeh, Ali & Ju, Yanbing & Bamakan, Seyed Mojtaba Hosseini & Le, Hoang Phong, 2021. "Renewable energy investment risk assessment in belt and road initiative countries under uncertainty conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    28. Peter Bernholz, 1985. "A financial history of western europe: A review," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 121(4), pages 779-785, December.
    29. Bulavskaya, Tatyana & Reynès, Frédéric, 2018. "Job creation and economic impact of renewable energy in the Netherlands," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 528-538.
    30. Park, Eunil, 2017. "Potentiality of renewable resources: Economic feasibility perspectives in South Korea," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 61-70.
    31. Wustenhagen, Rolf & Bilharz, Michael, 2006. "Green energy market development in Germany: effective public policy and emerging customer demand," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(13), pages 1681-1696, September.
    32. Graabak, I. & Korpås, M. & Jaehnert, S. & Belsnes, M., 2019. "Balancing future variable wind and solar power production in Central-West Europe with Norwegian hydropower," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 870-882.
    33. Dujardin, Jérôme & Kahl, Annelen & Kruyt, Bert & Bartlett, Stuart & Lehning, Michael, 2017. "Interplay between photovoltaic, wind energy and storage hydropower in a fully renewable Switzerland," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 513-525.
    34. Koster, Daniel & Minette, Frank & Braun, Christian & O'Nagy, Oliver, 2019. "Short-term and regionalized photovoltaic power forecasting, enhanced by reference systems, on the example of Luxembourg," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 455-470.
    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. Krystyna Kurowska & Hubert Kryszk & Stanisław Bielski, 2022. "Location and Technical Requirements for Photovoltaic Power Stations in Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-16, April.
    2. Katarzyna Chudy-Laskowska & Tomasz Pisula, 2022. "An Analysis of the Use of Energy from Conventional Fossil Fuels and Green Renewable Energy in the Context of the European Union’s Planned Energy Transformation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-23, October.
    3. Agnieszka Dembicka-Niemiec & Edyta Szafranek-Stefaniuk & Antonina Kalinichenko, 2023. "Structural and Investment Funds of the European Union as an Instrument for Creating a Low-Carbon Economy by Selected Companies of the Energy Sector in Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-21, February.
    4. Jenny Palm, 2021. "The Transposition of Energy Communities into Swedish Regulations: Overview and Critique of Emerging Regulations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-15, August.

    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. Østergaard, P.A. & Lund, H. & Thellufsen, J.Z. & Sorknæs, P. & Mathiesen, B.V., 2022. "Review and validation of EnergyPLAN," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    2. Krystyna Kurowska & Hubert Kryszk & Stanisław Bielski, 2022. "Location and Technical Requirements for Photovoltaic Power Stations in Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-16, April.
    3. Graabak, I. & Korpås, M. & Jaehnert, S. & Belsnes, M., 2019. "Balancing future variable wind and solar power production in Central-West Europe with Norwegian hydropower," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 870-882.
    4. Odeh, Rodrigo Pérez & Watts, David, 2019. "Impacts of wind and solar spatial diversification on its market value: A case study of the Chilean electricity market," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 442-461.
    5. Maruf, Md. Nasimul Islam, 2021. "Open model-based analysis of a 100% renewable and sector-coupled energy system–The case of Germany in 2050," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    6. Lenzen, Manfred & McBain, Bonnie & Trainer, Ted & Jütte, Silke & Rey-Lescure, Olivier & Huang, Jing, 2016. "Simulating low-carbon electricity supply for Australia," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 553-564.
    7. Raza, Muhammad Amir & Khatri, Krishan Lal & Hussain, Arslan, 2022. "Transition from fossilized to defossilized energy system in Pakistan," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 19-29.
    8. Shirizadeh, Behrang & Quirion, Philippe, 2021. "Low-carbon options for the French power sector: What role for renewables, nuclear energy and carbon capture and storage?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    9. Auer, Benjamin R., 2016. "How does Germany's green energy policy affect electricity market volatility? An application of conditional autoregressive range models," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 621-628.
    10. Müller, Jonas & Trutnevyte, Evelina, 2020. "Spatial projections of solar PV installations at subnational level: Accuracy testing of regression models," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    11. Icaza-Alvarez, Daniel & Jurado, Francisco & Tostado-Véliz, Marcos & Arevalo, Paúl, 2022. "Decarbonization of the Galapagos Islands. Proposal to transform the energy system into 100% renewable by 2050," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 199-220.
    12. Ifaei, Pouya & Tayerani Charmchi, Amir Saman & Loy-Benitez, Jorge & Yang, Rebecca Jing & Yoo, ChangKyoo, 2022. "A data-driven analytical roadmap to a sustainable 2030 in South Korea based on optimal renewable microgrids," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    13. Gyanwali, Khem & Komiyama, Ryoichi & Fujii, Yasumasa, 2020. "Representing hydropower in the dynamic power sector model and assessing clean energy deployment in the power generation mix of Nepal," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    14. Zimmermann, Florian & Keles, Dogan, 2022. "State or market: Investments in new nuclear power plants in France and their domestic and cross-border effects," Working Paper Series in Production and Energy 64, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Industrial Production (IIP).
    15. Koltsaklis, Nikolaos E. & Dagoumas, Athanasios S., 2018. "State-of-the-art generation expansion planning: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 563-589.
    16. Batas Bjelić, Ilija & Rajaković, Nikola & Krajačić, Goran & Duić, Neven, 2016. "Two methods for decreasing the flexibility gap in national energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(P3), pages 1701-1709.
    17. Mauleón, Ignacio, 2019. "Optimizing individual renewable energies roadmaps: Criteria, methods, and end targets," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C), pages 1-1.
    18. Thimet, P.J. & Mavromatidis, G., 2022. "Review of model-based electricity system transition scenarios: An analysis for Switzerland, Germany, France, and Italy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    19. Frédéric Babonneau & Javiera Barrera & Javiera Toledo, 2021. "Decarbonizing the Chilean Electric Power System: A Prospective Analysis of Alternative Carbon Emissions Policies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-16, August.
    20. Mertens, Tim & Poncelet, Kris & Duerinck, Jan & Delarue, Erik, 2020. "Representing cross-border trade of electricity in long-term energy-system optimization models with a limited geographical scope," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).

    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:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:13:p:3940-:d:586556. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.