Factors influencing the likelihood of regulatory changes in renewable electricity policies

The renewable electricity literature has expanded in recent years from the analysis of policies focused on Research and Development (R&D) and off-grid deployment to the discussion of policies introduced to facilitate the diffusion of renewable electricity in the mainstream market. This article contributes to the discussion of renewable electricity policies by analysing some of the factors influencing the occurrence of regulatory changes, i.e. the financial sustainability and economic effectiveness of the policies, the allocation of costs and benefits; the coherence of the policies; the size and variety of the coalitions supporting and opposing renewable electricity; and the "Brussels effect". The importance of these factors is evaluated in the case of three major markets of renewable electricity: Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.