Abstract

Looking at the wind industry this paper compares Chinese and Norwegian institutions and governance in terms of wind energy technology implementation and manufacturing. A particular emphasis is put on the institutional structure in both countries, studying discourses, debates and the legitimacy of wind energy technologies. Given the vast differences between Norway and China, in terms of size, population and culture, this comparison is strictly limited to wind energy policy, and the comparison does not seek to generalise findings to other areas. The information and analysis is based on 12 semi-structured interviews with Chinese wind industry stakeholders, and a broad literature review for Norway’s wind energy development. In order to analyse the field, the concepts of “socio-technical regimes” or “technological regimes” are employed. These frameworks assume that institutions, actors and networks are inert and change only slowly, so one can observe a certain “path dependency” with regard to which technologies are used in society. Given the fact that China has observed a rapid growth of new renewable energy technologies, whilst Norway still is dominated by older technologies, this comparative study is useful in detecting what factors have allowed such a change in China, whilst they have not been present in Norway. In terms of wind energy technologies, this is especially a puzzle since both countries have very good wind energy resour

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