Renewable electricity consumption in the EU-27: Are cross-country differences diminishing?

The aim of this paper is to analyse cross-country differences for shares of renewable electricity in the EU-27 for the period 1996-2005. We carry out a standard convergence analysis and then examine the evolution of the entire distribution, namely the external shape, intra-distributional dynamics and ergodic distribution. Our main results are as follows. First, there has been a clear convergence pattern for renewable electricity shares across countries. Second, the shape of the distribution has varied significantly over time, with more countries positioned around the mean in 2005 than in 1996. Third, the analysis shows that intra-distributional mobility has been relatively high, especially in those countries with the highest share in the initial year of our sample. Fourth, in spite of this, large cross-country differences will likely persist for RES-E shares in the hypothetical long-term equilibrium, which implies that a major impulse to national RES-E support policies will be necessary in the coming years to shorten this gap. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.