Many investors are now ready to put their money in sustainable energy. Large amounts of money become available for projects and companies everywhere on the planet – be it the USA, Europe or Asia. The enthusiasm is so large, that some people even fear a hype like the dot.com bubble which burst in 2001. The world’s climate cannot afford a such burst in the sustainable energy supply and therefore a good, stable climate for investors is required. This is the key to a successful, long-term development of sustainable energy.

But governments – and the European Commission - are still struggling to create this stability. Or put in another way: how should they organise the market and what is their own role?

One says a feed-in system is essential. Another one puts his belief in an obligation system. Still, nobody really knows the answer, as revealed during a recent conference organised by the European Union of power suppliers Eurelectric. There are some basics, however, as pointed out by the IEA in its recent publication. No stop-and-go policies and a level playing field, for instance.

I believe it really does not matter if a policy is based on feed-in tariffs or obligations. What really matters is that different national market systems can communicate and international trade is facilitated, to provide the right conditions for project developers and investors to make the most of their efforts, at the most profitable locations.

If in the coming few years we will manage to organise the renewables market in a stable way – like we did for CO2-emissions - we won’t even need targets anymore.

Rolf de Vos

Chief Editor

GreenPrices Newsdesk