The Transition to Renewable Energy Technologies—Impact on Economic Performance of North Rhine-Westphalia

Abstract

The economic impacts of the German Renewable Energy Act (EEG) are of considerable importance for the discussion of the energy transition in Germany (Energiewende). The Energiewende implies structural changes of the energy system by deploying Renewable Energy (and energy efficiency) Technologies (RET), but it also may induce structural changes for the overall economy, with uneven effects on a sub-national level. North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW) is an ideal case to study such regional disparities, since this federal state has scarce per-capita renewable energy sources, whereas it stands out for its energy intensive industry and fossil-fuel based power plants. In order to support renewable energy policies, mostly gross impact assessments of RET deployment have been carried out both on national and regional levels. By definition, such analyses result in positive assessments, since only expansionary effects resulting from additional demand for RET are accounted for. This paper, in contrast, presents a net impact assessment of the EEG on the NRW economy of both expansionary and contractionary effects. The latter consist of negative income effects, increased production costs and, the crowding-out of conventional energy due to the renewable energy financing mechanism (i.e., electricity surcharge), as well as its preferential status for feed-in. Our findings show how North-Rhine Westphalia, with regard to the operation of RET, suffers disproportionally from negative effects in relation to the value addition of its economy in comparison to the rest the country, whereas it benefits marginally from the production of such facilities.

Community Empowerment and Utilization of Renewable Energy: Entrepreneurial Perspective for Community Resilience Based on Sustainable Management of Slum Settlements in Makassar City, Indonesia

“…Utilization of renewable energy in economic enterprises developed by the community in slum settlement locations will have a multiplier effect on increased income and community welfare. Energy systems using renewable energy technology will have an impact on structural change [47,48] and the use of renewable energy, in addition to increasing community income, and also facilitates sustainable development [49,50]. Thus, it is necessary to innovate and utilize technology to address the fulfillment of energy needs in developing economic enterprises at the community level.…”

Sustainable Energy Systems: Optimization and Efficiency

“…One of the most important challenges of present times is energy efficiency related to consumption and use [3], which encompasses efficiency in energy systems and supply, as well as the demand for final energy [4]. This will maximize the benefits of exploiting the available clean and endogenous primary energy sources [5]. Thus, the technological advances and the new economic frameworks of the energy sector could guarantee full compliance with environmental constraints [6].…”

Institutions, renewable energy consumption and industrial performance in West Africa

“…The non-renewable nature of these sources and their contribution to the problem of greenhouse gas emission and global warming has potential to impede industrial performance (Sadorsky, 2009;Koçak and Şarkgüneşi, 2017). The recent paradigm shift towards exploring renewable sources of energy as an alternative to the traditional energy sources, thereby making renewable energy production and consumption the center piece of global and regional energy policies are designed to boost industrialization (Aniello, Többen and Kuckshinrichs, 2019). This argument underscores the preoccupation of the extant empirical inquiries into the role of renewable energy in sustaining development, which is the hallmark of industrial growth (Inglesi-Lotz, 2016;Bilgilia et al, 2019).…”

“…Some studies have also examined the nexus between institutions, renewable energy and economic performance for developed and developing countries (Bhattacharya et al, 2016), Middle East and North Africa-MENA (Saidi et al, 2019). Globally, a good number of studies focused on the relationship between renewable energy consumption and economic growth for various countries and regions e.g Black Sea and Balkan states (Koçaka, and Şarkgüneşib, 2017), Germany (Rafindadi and Ozturk, 2015;Aniello et al, 2019), United States (Bilgili et al, 2019), G-7 nations (Chang et al, 2015), OECD countries (Ohler and Fetters, 2014), Europe (Menegaki, 2010, Xie et al, 2020, Lithuania (Bobinaite et al, 2011), (Al-mulali et al, 2013) and West Africa (Maji and Abdul-Rahim, 2019). An issue that has not received much attention in the extant literature is how institutional quality modifies the impact of renewable energy consumption on industrial performance, particularly in West Africa, a sub-region with poor industrial performance compared to other regions within sub-Sahara Africa.…”