En mai 2009, l’Ontario a adopté la Loi sur l’énergie verte et devint ainsi la première juridiction en Amérique du Nord à promouvoir l’énergie renouvelable par le biais de tarifs de rachat garantis. En novembre 2010, dans son Plan énergétique à long terme, la province s’est engagée à déployer 10,700 MW en capacité de production d’énergie renouvelable non-hydroélectrique par 2018. Il s’agit de la cible de déploiement la plus élevée dans ce secteur au Canada. Les infrastructures de production et de distribution d’électricité comprennent des coûts d’installation élevés, une faible rotation des investissements et de longs cycles de vie, facteurs qui servent habituellement à ancrer les politiques énergétiques dans une dynamique de dépendance au sentier. Depuis le début des années 2000, cependant, l’Ontario a commencé à diverger de sa traditionnelle dépendance aux grandes centrales hydroélectriques, aux centrales à charbon et aux centrales nucléaires par une série de petits changements graduels qui feront grimper la part d’énergie renouvelable dans le mix énergétique provincial à 15% par 2018. Le but de ce mémoire est d’élucider le mécanisme de causalité qui a sous-tendu l’évolution graduelle de l’Ontario vers la promotion de l’énergie renouvelable par le biais de tarifs de rachat garantis et d’une cible de déploiement élevée. Ce mémoire applique la théorie du changement institutionnel graduel de Mahoney et Thelen au cas du développement de politiques d’énergie renouvelable en Ontario afin de mieux comprendre les causes, les modes et les effets du changement institutionnel. Nous découvrons que le contexte canadien de la politique énergétique favorise la sédimentation institutionnelle, c’est-à-dire un mode changement caractérisé par de petits gains favorisant l’énergie renouvelable. Ces gains s’accumulent pourtant en transformation politique importante. En Ontario, la mise sur pied d’une vaste coalition pour l’énergie renouvelable fut à l’origine du changement. Les premiers revendicateurs de politiques favorisant l’énergie renouvelable – les environnementalistes et les premières entreprises d’approvisionnement et de service en technologies d’énergie renouvelable – ont dû mettre sur pied un vaste réseau d’appui, représentant la quasi-totalité de la société ontarienne, pour faire avancer leur cause. Ce réseau a fait pression sur le gouvernement provincial et, en tant que front commun, a revendiqué l’énergie renouvelable non seulement comme solution aux changements climatiques, mais aussi comme solution à maints autres défis pressants de santé publique et de développement économique. La convergence favorable d’un nombre de facteurs contextuels a certes contribué à la réussite du réseau ontarien pour l’énergie renouvelable. Cependant, le fait que ce réseau ait trouvé des alliés au sein de l’exécutif du gouvernement provincial s’est révélé d’importance cruciale quant à l’obtention de politiques favorisant l’énergie renouvelable. Au Canada, les gouvernements provinciaux détiennent l’ultime droit de veto sur la politique énergétique. Ce n’est qu’en trouvant des alliés aux plus hauts échelons du gouvernement que le réseau ontarien pour l’énergie renouvelable a pu réussir. / In May 2009, Ontario adopted the Green Energy and Green Economy Act and became the first jurisdiction in North America to promote renewable energy through advanced feed-in tariffs. In November 2010, in its Long-Term Energy Plan, the province pledged to deploy 10,700 MW of non-hydroelectric renewable energy capacity by 2018, the highest such target in Canada. Electricity production and distribution infrastructure is characterized by high setup costs, low capital stock turnover and long life spans, factors that traditionally entrench energy policy in path-dependent trajectories. Since the early 2000’s, however, Ontario has diverged from its historic reliance on large hydro, coal and nuclear through a series of gradual policy shifts set to expand renewable energy’s share in the overall supply mix to 15% by 2018. The purpose of this thesis is to uncover the causal mechanism behind Ontario`s gradual shift toward the promotion of renewable energy through advanced feed-in tariffs, accompanied by high deployment targets. The thesis applies Mahoney & Thelen’s theory of gradual institutional change to the case of renewable energy policy development in Ontario, providing new insight into the causes, modes and effects of institutional change. The thesis finds that the Canadian energy policy context favors a layering pattern of change, characterized by small, yet cumulative, renewable energy policy gains. The driving force of this process involves coalition building. To achieve renewable energy policy gains, Ontario`s first renewable energy proponents, mostly environmental groups and early renewable energy supply and service firms, had to build a wide-ranging, multi-stakeholder network of allies and lobby government from a unified front, presenting renewable energy as a solution not only to climate change but a combination of other immediately pressing public health and economic challenges. Elements of timing greatly aided the renewable energy network’s campaign. Ultimately, however, the thesis finds that, given provincial governments` ultimate veto power over energy policy, finding allies in the top echelons of government was most crucial to the renewable energy network`s success.

Au cœur de cette thèse réside l'application des méthodes d'optimisation et d'études empiriques pour traiter des questions de développement durable dans le secteur de l'électricité du Vietnam pour les 30 prochaines années. On examine les moyens des options énergétiques durables pour le secteur de l'électricité. La thèse s'organise en deux parties. (i) Dans la première partie, nous développons le modèle " bottom-up " de planification intégrée des ressources (IRP) pour fournir une évaluation plus exhaustive de l'état actuel et des perspectives d'avenir pour le secteur de l'électricité du Vietnam dans les trois prochaines décennies. Puis, en utilisant une analyse comparative et une analyse de la vulnérabilité qui est basée sur la simulation IRP, nous analysons les vulnérabilités auxquelles le développement du secteur devra faire face, en termes de dimensions économiques et socio-environnementales. Nous avons en outre développé le modèle IRP, représentant les coûts marginaux de réduction des émissions de carbone de manière réaliste en tenant compte des valeurs non nulles de carbone et de limitation des émissions de carbone, afin de simuler des options d'approvisionnement énergétique soutenables pour le secteur de l'énergie. (ii) Dans la deuxième partie, nous étudions les principaux obstacles contre une adoption plus large des énergies soutenables à l'aide d'enquêtes formelles parmi les experts nationaux. Ensuite, nous utilisons une approche d'analyse empirique pour examiner les différents outils politiques appropriés, y compris des instruments d'incitation / régimes et la réforme du secteur pour une telle durabilité du secteur de l'énergie. Pour la fin, nous analysons l'accès aux sources de financement possibles pour le développement durable dans le secteur de l'électricité du Vietnam.

With national cuts on solar PV subsidies and the current “oversupply” of panels, the global solar market is clearly threatened by a contraction. Yet, the need for more solar power is apparent, particularly for the world’s poor and vulnerable population. Instead of securing modern energy access for these people, trade interests have triggered a counterproductive solar trade war. This contemporary legal study addresses these issues by examining existent and potential instruments for stimulating a North-to-South solar capital flow. The research finds that recent reforms of the CDM will do little difference from previous deficiencies, as local investment barriers are not reflected in the monetary support of the clean development mechanism. Competing technologies are successfully keeping solar out of the game while baseline requirements are undermining the poor. Inspired by national renewable energy law and policy, international alternatives could address these shortcomings. While feed-in tariffs have been commonly advocated, the REC model seems far more appropriate in an international context. Its ability to be traded separately from the electricity makes it a perfect candidate as a substitute for the CDM. Entrusted with certain features it could address the geographical unbalance and provide with greater investor certainty. But the scheme(s) are under current WTO regulations required to be non-discriminatory, making it highly questionable to believe that developed countries would ever fund such incentive. It is not likely that solar capital exporters want Chinese solar PV manufacturers, who are already receiving significant production subsidies, to receive the same benefits as other producers. However, if countries adversely effected by subsidies where allowed to offset the injury by discriminating Chinese producers in international REC schemes, the Author believes that it would be easier to sell such a concept and implement it, for the benefits of climate change mitigation and adaptation as well as the world’s vulnerable and poor nations. However, this would require extensive reforms under WTO which the Author calls for.

Intresset för småskaliga vindkraftverk på byggnader har ökat under de senaste åren. Allt fler människor blir mer energi- och miljömedvetna samt ser fördelarna med att elektriciteten produceras där den konsumeras; i den bebyggda miljön. Det är dock en större utmaning att installera ett vindkraftverk i urban miljö, jämfört med i öppet landskap, då det finns många faktorer som skall beaktas. Stadens komplexa uppbyggnad gör att vindens hastighet och riktning varierar och ger upphov till turbulenta strukturer i den omgivande luften. Många av dagens vindkraftverk kan ej operera effektivt vid turbulens, därför måste dessa vindkraftverken placeras på höga höjder för att nå den laminärt strömmande vinden över staden, vilket ger orealistiska längder på de master som krävs, även om vindkraftverket monteras på en byggnad. För att kunna utnyttja de vindar som uppkommer i urbana miljöer bör vertikalaxlade vindkraftverk med en helixformad geometri på rotorn användas. Dessa har visat sig vara både de effektivaste och de vindkraftverk som utsätter omgivningen för lägst nivå av störningar. Att placera ett vindkraftverk på en byggnad i urban miljö, där många människor vistas, kräver god kunskap om säkert montage samt vilka störningar som vindkraftverket kan generera. Ett vindkraftverk som monteras felaktigt kan bidra till hälso- och säkerhetsrisker, och om dessa risker blir för stora kan vindkraftverket tvingas att tas ur drift. För att vara säker på att vindkraftsanläggningen är tillförlitligt bör vindkraftverket och montaget vara stadardiserat och certifierat, något som i dagsläget saknas i Sverige. I dag finns inga direkta stöd för småskaliga vindkraftverk i Sverige, vilket är en bidragande faktor till att ekonomin kring dessa vindkraftverk är bristfällig. Elcertifikatsystemet som skall ge stöd åt förnyelsebar energi är inte utformat för småskalig elproduktion. Men i takt med att detta användningsområde för vindkraft utvecklas samt att priset för energi förväntas stiga kommer troligtvis byggnadsmonterade vindkraftverk bli en lönsam investering i framtiden. / The interest for small-scale wind turbines mounted on buildings has increased during the last couple of years. More and more people are giving more consideration to energy and environmental questions and are appreciative of the benefits of producing electricity where it is consumed; in the urban environment. However it is a greater challenge to install a wind turbine in the urban environment, compared to an open landscape, because of the many factors that needs to be taken in consideration. The complex structure of the city has an effect on the speed and direction of the wind and causes turbulent structures in the surrounding air. Many of today’s wind turbines cannot operate effectively in turbulence, this is why these turbines need to be placed on high heights to reach the laminar wind flow over the city, which gives unrealistic lengths of the towers that are required, even if the turbine is mounted on a building. To be able to utilize the existing wind in urban environments a vertical axis wind turbine with a helix shaped rotor should be used. These turbines have shown themselves to not only be the most effective but also the turbines that expose the surroundings to the lowest level of disturbances. To place a wind turbine on a building in an urban environment, where a lot of people reside, requires a good knowledge of how to securely mount the turbine but also what kind of disturbances that a turbine can emit. A turbine that is mounted incorrectly can contribute to health and safety hazards, and if these risks become to great the turbine may be forced to be taken out of operation. To be certain that the wind turbine and its components are trustworthy the turbine and mounting should be standardized and certified, a feature that don’t exist today in Sweden.  Currently there is no direct support scheme for small-scale wind turbines in Sweden, which is a contributing factor to the inadequate economics surrounding these wind turbines. The Swedish system with certificates is meant to give support renewable energy but the system is not suited for small-scale production of electricity.  But the more this field of application for wind turbines develops, together with the assumption of rising cost of energy will most likely make building mounted wind turbines a profitable investment in the future.

In New Zealand, the development of wind energy is occurring predominantly at a large scale level with very little opportunity for local people to become involved, either financially or conceptually. These conditions are creating situations of conflict between communities and wind energy developers – and are limiting the potential of the New Zealand wind energy industry. The inception of community ownership in small scale wind farms, developed in Europe in the late 20th Century, has helped to make a vital connection between wind energy and end users. Arguably, community wind farms are able to alleviate public concerns of wind energy’s impact on landscapes, amongst a wide range of other advantages. In Austria, community wind farms have offered significant development opportunities to local people, ushered in distributed generation, and all the while increasing the amount of renewable energy in the electricity mix. This thesis investigates whether community small scale wind (SSW) farms, such as those developed in Austria, are a viable and feasible option for the New Zealand context. The approach of this thesis examines the history of the Austrian wind industry and explores several community wind farm developments. In addition, interviews with stakeholders from Austria and New Zealand were conducted to develop an understanding of impressions and processes in developing community wind energy (CWE) in the New Zealand context. From this research an assessment of the transfer of the Austrian framework to the New Zealand situation is offered, with analysis of the differences between the wind energy industries in the two countries. Furthermore, future strategies are suggested for CWE development in New Zealand with recommendations for an integrated governmental approach. This research determines that the feasibility for the transfer of the Austrian framework development of ‘grassroots’ community wind farms in the next 10 years is relatively unlikely without greater support assistance from the New Zealand Government. This is principally due to the restricted economic viability of community wind farms and also significant regulatory and policy limitations. In the mid to long term, the New Zealand government should take an integrated approach to assist the development of community wind farms which includes: a collaborative government planning approach on the issue; detailed assessment of the introduction of feed-in tariff mechanisms and controlled activity status (RMA) for community wind farms; and development of limited liability company law for community energy companies. In the short term, however, the most feasible option available for the formation of community wind farms lies in quasi community developments with corporate partnerships.