The shift towards renewable energy sources with no fuel costs moves value creation towards the conversion of energy, causing turbulent power shifts within the international political economy. This shift might on the one hand lower the influence of fossil fuel exporting countries and on the other hand incorporate opportunities for green technology patent innovators, manufacturers or installers. Co-evolving policies and technological developments might both strongly influence the relative positioning of countries within this rapidly changing race for leadership.
Lachapelle, MacNeil and Paterson (2017) analysed how different countries specialized along the lines of these three strategies for wind and solar energy. Building on this mapping, the question arises which factors determine the strategies chosen by which countries? And what is the role of political institutions in the co-evolution of policy and technology? And can technology-policy feedback loops be observed?An econometric analysis of correlations between countries position within the three fields of technology innovation, manufacturing and installation and various socio-economic indicators is combined with a comparative analysis of institutional contexts in which the policies fostering these strategies evolved. Thereby the paper aims to contributes to the current debates on the integration of renewable energy technology perspectives into policy feedback theory.
