Renewable energy support in Spain. A natural policy experiment.

Abstract

This article provides an interpretative overview of the ambitious and intense Spanish experience with renewable electricity support. Besides describing the varying schemes that existed in Spain since the late 1990s, the paper intends to explore the different factors that have apparently turned a successful policy story into a failure. We suggest that the demise of Spanish renewable electricity support policies is related to a combination of design pitfalls, of rapidly changing economic and energy contexts, and of shifting views on the bonanza of such schemes by major involved agents, such as utilities and large electricity consumers. The paper may thus be useful to derive good and bad lessons for countries, including Spain, interested in the future promotion of renewable electricity.