Leveraging Policy for Renewable Energy Development in Industrialized Countries and Emerging Markets

Renewable energy has the ability to play a dominate role in addressing both rising energy demand and the need for sustainable growth. Various policy measures and incentives have aided its growth in both developed and developing countries. This dissertation analyzes existing policies and financial mechanisms used to encourage renewable energy development through three academic papers. I first propose the carbon revenue bond as a new financing tool to complement the environmental credit markets that exist in developed countries. Stochastic modeling techniques are used to simulate future credit prices and determine bond value. Use of the carbon revenue bond is illustrated through three examples of wind energy projects in the European, Australian and New Jersey markets. In the absence of mature markets in developing countries, I develop the strategic structure matrix as a new framework to explain the various effects of policy measures in order to better shape future policy design. By synthesizing previous literature on how organizations are able to affect the diffusion of a new technology, the strategic structure matrix is able to deepen understanding of how policy can influence renewable energy growth. The explanatory power of the framework is demonstrated through a case study on the different paces of wind power diffusion in five Indian states. Lastly, I evaluate the Clean Development Mechanism as a tool to encourage investment from developed nations for renewable infrastructure in developing countries. I create an agent-based model to simulate investment decisions under different improvements to the program, providing quantitative support for the effectiveness of some improvements over others. In addition to each paper's individual contributions, the findings collectively provide important implications for the future of renewable energy policy and its ability to support continued sustainable growth.