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Recently, challenge-oriented innovation policy has become increasingly popular in political and scientific discussions. However, the extent to which such a challenge-based thinking has entered regional policy making is relatively unclear. This paper examines the scope of the regional level in promoting challenge-based innovation, focusing on the recent renewable energy innovation policy in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The results show that while regional innovation policy in Schleswig-Holstein aims to address several structural and transformational systemic failures, many other problems and challenges remain, as they are beyond the capacity of a single region to address. Based on this analysis, we draw four conclusions. First, similar to many other structurally weak regions, policymakers in Schleswig-Holstein are struggling with some of the same key challenges that the policy was originally designed to address. Second, multi-scalar governance and inter-scalar coordination are essential for managing regional sustainability transitions. Third, challenge-driven innovation policy is an extension of, rather than a replacement for, conventional regional innovation policy. Finally, environmental and economic goals should be well balanced in challenge-driven regional innovation policy design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the 2009 EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED), Norway has overachieved its national renewables target and taken the European lead in new wind power. This seems puzzling as Norway had a surplus of renewable energy and the government opposed the EU-induced national target. Employing a dynamic approach to implementation and its consequences, we examine three explanations. From an EU adaptation-pressure perspective, the RED enabled joint implementation, which Norway utilized through its flexible certificate system with Sweden. From a domestic politics perspective, internal pressures led to favourable depreciation rules that stimulated pro-windpower interests. Third, from a policy feedback perspective, protests from municipalities resulted in a reform of the licensing system. These explanations proved complementary, and more persuasive than the main alternative explanation of drastic cost reductions in windpower technology. Our findings speak to the energy democracy, energy policy and implementation literatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kuwait's policy of achieving 15% renewable energy by 2030, announced in 2012, has been diverted from its original intent. Today, Kuwait's renewable energy goal is to meet 15% of its projected peak load by 2030. To examine the actual outcomes, a comparison is offered between the original policy: annual energy share, the current policy: peak capacity share, and two other policies: installed capacity share and peak load share. The results demonstrate how these policies lead to drastically different outcomes. The total installed renewable energy capacity ranges from 4 GW to 27 GW; the total produced energy from renewables ranges from 8 TWh to 44 TWh; and the flexibility requirements ranges from 1.6 GW to 20 GW per hour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The infrastructure sector is undergoing a significant process of change, as part of which the state is reducing its direct engagement. This has spotlighted local communities, which are increasingly involved in various infrastructure projects, specifically renewable energy projects. However, because individual communities often find it difficult to establish infrastructure projects independently, they tend to collaborate in the framework of inter-community partnerships. Despite the global prevalence of such partnerships, it is still unclear what constitutes the "glue" binding various communities together, enabling them to promote infrastructure projects, and renewable energy projects in particular. Our study addresses this research lacuna, focusing on the role of climate intermediaries in facilitating these partnerships. Based on internal correspondences regarding the promotion of "Ru'ach Bereshit," the largest wind farm planned in Israel to date, we demonstrate how an individual climate intermediary engaged in negotiations in four arenas: within communities, between communities, vis-à-vis private developers, and vis-à-vis regulators. By exploring climate intermediaries' multi-arena negotiations, this study demonstrates how such intermediaries succeed in synchronizing local energy policies with national energy policies to promote a renewable energy project that transcends the community level of analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]