ACCELERATING THE ADOPTION PROCESS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES AMONG SMES

Mirjam Leloux (), Saskia Harkema () and Florentin Popescu ()
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Mirjam Leloux: Wittenborg University, The Netherlands, Research Department
Saskia Harkema: Wittenborg University, The Netherlands, Research Department
Florentin Popescu: Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Department of International Business and Economics Romania

Annals of Faculty of Economics, 2015, vol. 1, issue 1, 247-255

Abstract: By 2020, intermittent renewable small scale energy sources (e.g. wind and solar energy) are expected to represent about 17% of the EU’s total electricity consumption. All national overriding energy policy objectives are to ensure competitive, secure and sustainable energy for the economy and for society. Renewable energy, allied with energy efficiency, is often found crucial to meet these goals of secure sustainable and competitive energy supplies reducing dependency on expensive fossil imports and underpinning the move towards a low carbon economy while delivering green jobs to the economy. This all contributes to national competitiveness and the jobs and economic growth agenda. However, a straight forward implementation of renewable energy options is not easy, due to various barriers and obstacles. For most SMEs, the concept of generating their own renewable energy is still more of academic than genuine interest. In general, several barriers are experienced, such as high capital investments, slow return on investment, and the lack of knowledge of the benefits. There is a need for education on the benefits and drawbacks of sustainable energy, as well as a greater contribution to costs for this to work. In this paper we describe the intermediate outcomes of a European Partnership under the name of GREAT (Growing Renewable Energy Applications and Technologies), funded under the INTERREG IVB NWE Programme. GREAT aims to encourage communities and small to medium size enterprises (SMEs) in Ireland, the United Kingdon, Belgium and The Netherlands to develop technological solutions for Smart Grid, Renewable Energy and Distributive Generation; research and develop policy issues for regulatory authorities and provide structured co-operation opportunities between SMEs and research institutes / technology developers. We developed GREAT spreadsheets to facilitate SMEs in each country to calculate the return-on-investment of renewable energy sources, such as solar panel installation, heat pumps and wind energy, generating electricity. We have a two-track approach: development of a tool to support SMEs in their decision making process about suitable and appropriate technologies and solutions, and research to understand the barriers and obstacles that hinder adoption and implementation of sustainable energy solutions. In this paper we introduce a tool which aims to support SMEs in their decision making process on renewable energy applications in the expectation that this will accelerate that process.

Keywords: Sustainable Energy Sources; Innovation; SMEs; Renewable Energy Applications; Economic tool for decision making (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O3 Q42 Q55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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