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The German Erneuerbare-Energien Gesetz (EEG), adopted in 2000,
was particularly influential. By setting technology-specific FITs and plan-
ning for the decrease of feed-in rates at a rhythm following expected evo-
lutions in technology costs, the EEG model integrated considerations
about renewable energy technologies and their cost dynamics. It thus
turned FITs into innovation-oriented instruments designed to steer the
deployment of RES-E installations. Its revision in 2004 accentuated this
dimension. FITs were subsequently adopted in a growing number of
countries (among which France, Czech Republic, Italy, Portugal, Greece,
Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Hungary, and later, the UK), to the extent that
“by early 2010, at least 45 countries had FITS at the national level (includ-
ing much of Europe)” (Mitchell et al. 2011, p. 14).
Over the course of their diffusion, FITs were adapted and sophisti-
cated. From country to country, but also in their evolution in one specific
country, they have varied in scope, rationale, design, and effects. They
were tailored to specific technologies and made to incorporate several dis-
tinct objectives, from contributing to greenhouse gas emission reductions
to supporting industries. They also had to be reformed to address issues
triggered by their own effects, with more or less success. FITs often
spurred rapid increases in RES-E capacity, generating high collective costs
as well as difficulties with grid management or electricity spot markets, and
various strategies have been used to address these problems (Karnøe 2013;
Hoppmann et al. 2014; Cointe 2015, 2017).
Why Study FITs in the European Union?
The adoption of FITs in several EU Member States was not directly driven
by the European Union. Indeed, the relationship of FITs with EU policy
principles has always been ambiguous. The European Commission initially
tended to disapprove of such instruments, considering them as state inter-
vention in the operation of markets and as potential distortions to compe-
tition. All the same, the promotion of renewable energy in Member States
was framed by EU directives, and in that sense feed-in tariffs were part of
EU renewable energy policy. Their emergence, diffusion and evolution
also occurred in the context of the liberalisation of the EU electricity mar-
ket. The trajectory of FITs thus needs to be understood in relation to
these two dimensions of EU energy policy (namely, the promotion of
renewable energy and liberalisation), as well as to the interplay between
EU policies and national policies.
B. COINTE AND A. NADAÏ