Hot on the heels of my recent graduation, the (hopefully) third last
paper in my PhD was published this week. This is a shorter paper I prepared for the World Renewable Energy Congress Conference earlier this year and focuses on the final two questions I asked my interview subjects:
- Do you think you have personally been able to influence solar policy? If yes, what policy did you influence and how? If no, do you think you could influence solar policy, and how?
- Do you think governments should promote the development of renewable energy, and what do you think that promotion should look like?
I used the responses to these questions to consider which stakeholders had the power to influence government policy relating to solar energy, and what the policies they sought to influence looked like. My findings showed that,
unless you are an MP in Cabinet, your influence over policy is likely to be low - except if you're able to work with other stakeholders to create political pressure for a certain outcome!
This paper is available in the
Open Access Journal Renewable Energy and Environmental Sustainability, so crazy with the downloads!