The recent EU Commission proposal for promoting the supply of power from renewable energy sources was originally based on a pan-European, harmonised tradable green certificate (TGC) scheme. We suggest, on the basis of a multi-disciplinary analysis, that a pan-EU TGC system is not the way forward...

The performance of feed-in tariffs and tradable certificates is assessed on criteria of efficacy, efficiency, equity and institutional feasibility. In the early stage of transition to an energy system based entirely on renewable energy supplies, renewable electricity can only thrive if support...

Renewable electricity supply is a crucial factor in the realization of a low-carbon energy economy. The understanding is growing that a full turn-over of the electricity sectors by 2050 is an elementary condition for avoiding global average temperature increase beyond 2 °C. This article...

In the European policy debate, tradable green certificates (TGC) have been suggested to be a superior regulatory framework for promoting the diffusion of renewable electricity technologies. The purpose of this paper is to assess the performance of the Swedish TGC system, contributing to the...

The UK Government has published a White paper on Electricity Market Reform, which precedes legislation with a declared aim of delivering secure, clean and decarbonised electricity supply. It introduces interventionist methods aiming to promote a nuclear power construction programme, a...

This paper investigates whether and how Danish-style combined heat and power (CHP) and district heating (DH) can be implemented in the UK in the context of a liberalised electricity market. There is currently an absence, in the UK, of the Danish system of planning rules and also good tariffs for...

Considerable argument about trading in green electricity certificates (GECs) preceded the publication of the proposed EU Renewables Directive in early 2008. The proposed Directive set a binding target of 20 per cent of EU energy to be derived from renewable energy by 2020 broken down into...