Smart meter deployment in Europe: A comparative case study on the impacts of national policy schemes

Abstract While low-carbon energy technologies are often regarded as a key solution to climate change mitigation, the successful transformation to a clean energy economy requires a solid scientific understanding of the technological change process and the role of public policies. To better support effective policy making, we conducted a comparative case study to investigate how the choice of policy bundles has led to the cross-national variation in smart meter deployment in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. We found that countries with a combination of policy measures that address multiple barriers to smart meters tend to be leaders, while laggards often overlook or fail to adopt policies to overcome key barriers. This research builds on technology diffusion and policy impact assessment literature and provides valuable insights on the design of effective policy tools to promote clean energy innovations.