ABSTRACT
The Renewables Obligation (RO) is a form of the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), a mechanism devised by the American Wind Energy Association and the Union of Concerned Scientists in 1996 (Rader and Norgaard, 1996). In simple terms, an RPS mechanism creates a demand for electricity from renewable energy sources by setting a minimum obligation to suppliers or consumers to obtain their electricity from these sources. In order to meet this obligation, consumers may acquire power from the cheapest available renewable energy generator from a specified list of technologies. The underlying theory is that the competitive process will act to minimize the costs of developing the new technology to those providing the subsidy.
