Wind Boom, Wind Bust

During the last decade, wind energy has become one of the fastest growing sources of energy in the world. Government employed regulatory and financial incentives have played a salient role in this rapid expansion of wind energy production and industry. Interestingly, some advanced industrial nations, such as Germany, have become pioneers of this wind boom while others, Canada, for example, have been slower to harness this energy supply and the economic benefits associated with a robust domestic wind industry. This study examines what conditions affect the will and ability of political leaders to create incentives that stimulate private investment in their country’s wind industry. This analysis should help explain why a government of one advanced industrial state adjusted market conditions in order to strongly encourage the redirection of private capital into the wind industry during the early 1990s, while the government of a similarly advanced industrial state did not. The book is addressed to professionals in the energy sector, investment community and policy divisions of national and regional governments. It is also directed towards scholars of energy policy and of the dynamic interplay between the state and the market.