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2 Renewable Energy L. & Pol'y Rev. 249 (2011)
Editorial

handle is hein.journals/relp2011 and id is 257 raw text is: Editorial 249 Editorial At the end of my first year as managing editor of the Renewable Energy Law and Policy Review, a look at the developments in renewable energy in 2011 is appropriate. Strong financial and long-term policy support in most of Europe has meant that installation of renewable energy systems remains robust. During the recent meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the host government, South Africa, unveiled a series of measures designed to foster the growth of renewable energy installa- tions and domestic industrial production. The Chinese and Indian governments continue their support for renewable energy with long-term goals for installation. In the United States, funds from the 2009 Stimulus bill dedicated to renewable energy are starting to have impacts on the market, and they have enabled the testing of new business models, like a community-owned wind farm in South Dakota. The largest jolt to the renewable market occurred as a result of the human and eco- logical tragedy in Fukushima, Japan. While the combined effects of the earthquake and tsunami resulted in meltdowns at three reactors in Fukushima in March, scientists and engineers were not able to arrange a cold shutdown of one of the reactors until December. The policy implications of the meltdowns were swifter, and gave several governments space to contemplate an enlarged role of renewable energy in their respective country's long-term energy mix. The reaction in Germany, for example, was rapid and univocal. Despite a previously agreed energy policy that foresaw an extension to the operation of nuclear power plants, by mid-year the government and opposition had agreed to an expedited phase-out of nuclear power in Germany. The following issue, the final for 2011, begins with an article from Glen W. Wright about the first years of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Wright's piece provides an overview of the functioning of IRENA to date and gives an initial assessment of the contribution that IRENA can make to the expansion of renewable energy globally. The next article, by Robin Hoenkamp, George Huitema, and Adrienne de Moor-van Vugt, tackles one of the future bottlenecks of expanded renewable energy supply: how to implement the necessary components of the smart grid. Hoenkamp et al. address the technical and social challenges of introducing smart meters by focusing on the experience in the Netherlands. Like the installation of large-scale renewables, smart meters face a public acceptance challenge. The article lays out the procedures and material needs for developing standards for smart meters and introducing them smoothly in a society. Dermot Duncan and Benjamin Sovacool put together the next article, which address the myriad (and often different) barriers to the commercial-scale installation of renewable energy. The authors take a look at the economic, technical, and political barriers to renew- able energy projects in several different contexts: Australia, the UK, the US, and Southeast RELP 41201 1

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