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Institutional conditions of community wind success

Althaus, Niklas (2016) Institutional conditions of community wind success.

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Abstract:The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of institutional framework conditions on the success of community wind initiatives in Germany’s most populous and energy intensive federal state North Rhine-Westphalia. The approach is oriented towards the research of Oteman, Wiering and Helderman (2014) who focus on the institutional context of the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark and reveal supportive and hindering structures for community energy. This study takes on the challenge to provide a more detailed research approach of a region and community wind projects to gain greater insight into prevailing dynamics and relationships between involved institutional conditions. Using qualitative data from a series of five semi-structured expert interviews, the effect of institutional framework conditions of the renewable energy subsystem, conceptualized according to the policy arrangement dimensions rules of the game, resources, actors and discourses, on the success and development of community wind in NRW, is examined. The results of the analysis show that mainly formal rules in the form of the Renewable Energy Act amendment 2016 influence the success of community wind development. In conclusion, the thesis argues that institutional conditions of the German renewable energy system can both constrain or enable community wind development. Unfavorable formal rules and complex planning processes diminish the success of community wind while support actors and local networks try to establish the position of collective citizen ownership in a decentralized energy transition.
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:85 business administration, organizational science, 88 social and public administration
Programme:Management Society and Technology BSc (56654)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/70465
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