Renewable electricity policies in The Netherlands

Many analysts agree that the support system for renewable electricity (RE) in the Netherlands has been opaque, confusing and lacking long-term security, due to the numerous instruments and to the several changes in the details of the policies. However, most analysts fail to notice that these factors per se are hardly responsible for the uncertainty observed in the Dutch market. This paper surveys the policies introduced in the last decade or so and discusses their effectiveness in facilitating the diffusion of RE. Although the government brought about a remarkable increase in demand for RE, the creation of domestic supply has lagged behind. This relatively slack expansion can be ascribed to the uncertainty in the Dutch framework, caused by the lack of a clear relation between policies stimulating demand and supply for RE. This also hindered the development of national industry and delayed the debate on the removal of planning and administrative bottlenecks. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.