Combinations of support instruments for renewable electricity in Europe: A review

The aim of this paper is to review the combinations of RES-E support instruments in the European Union (EU), using different sources of data. It is shown that combinations are indeed a widespread phenomenon in the EU Member States. Not much attention has been paid to the combinations of primary instruments with other secondary instruments for the same renewable energy technology. It is found that the most frequent mixes of instruments are between feed-in laws (feed-in tariffs, and increasingly feed-in premiums), on the one hand, and investment subsidies, soft loans and tax incentives on the other. In a broad sense, the policy mix between primary and secondary instruments has experienced some changes over the last decade, mostly related to changes in the primary instruments themselves. Exclusion (i.e., ineligibility to apply for an instrument when the RES-E generator is already being financially supported by another instrument) and explicit coordination of support under primary and secondary instruments do not seem to be common elements in these policy combinations.