Do Shifts in Renewable Energy Operation Policy Affect Efficiency: Korea’s Shift from FIT to RPS and Its Results

Hyungguen Park and Changhee Kim
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Hyungguen Park: Law School, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea
Changhee Kim: College of Business Administration, Incheon National University, Incheon 22012, Korea

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 6, 1-14

Abstract: South Korea’s new and renewable energy (NRE) policy experienced a drastic shift from the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) to the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) in 2012. This study looks at the changes in the efficiency of NRE policy in this transition through DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) and MI (Malmquist Index) methods, using investment for NRE technology development and for NRE dissemination as input factors and the number of firms, the number of employees, and the volume of NRE power generation as output factors. The results show a temporary drop in efficiency in 2012 during the transition period for the NRE industry as a whole. However, apart from those energy types with ulterior factors, the implementation of RPS increased the technical change (TC) of most NRE types. Furthermore, the findings highlight that, among South Korea’s three focal NRE industries—photovoltaic, wind power, and fuel cell energies—only fuel cell energies showed an increase in efficiency over time. South Korea’s policy shifts from FIT to RPS and the resulting effects on NRE policy’s efficiency provide a useful reference and guideline for government decision-making on NRE policy changes.

Keywords: renewable energy policy; malmquist index; data envelopment analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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