Introduction

Renewable energy from the sun, wind and sea has long been touted as the ultimate solution to the world’s energy and environmental problems, offering the potential of virtually unlimited cheap and pollution-free energy. Initial interest in renewable energy, spurred by the oil crises of the 1970s and fears of resource depletion and political insecurity, resulted in frenetic research and development activity, impressive technological advances and bold energy policy experiments. Yet, as the 1980s passed into the 1990s, fears of energy crises faded into the past and fossil fuel prices dropped to their lowest levels ever, while renewable energy technologies remained expensive in spite of the advances made. Renewables looked like they might forever remain ‘the energy of tomorrow’.