An analytical framework to assess the influence of deployment support on market concentration in the wind energy sector

An increase in market concentration (MC), which refers to a large share of few and large firms in a given sector, is a main concern for governments all over the world since it is believed to affect competition levels and, thus, lead to inefficiencies. It has also captured the attention of researchers in the past. A trend towards MC has been observed in many sectors, as they progress through different stages (i.e., what we call “consolidation effect”). This can also be the case in the renewable energy (RE) sectors. On the other hand, the features of RE policy may also influence the entry and exit of firms in RE sectors and, thus, MC, as they affect the revenues, costs and risks of its players (i.e., what we call the “policy effect”). However, despite its academic and policy relevance, the literature on MC in the RE sectors is very tiny and the few analyses have been undertaken without a systematic and comprehensive analytical framework. The aim of this paper is to provide an analytical framework to assess the impact of deployment support on market concentration in the RE sectors. This framework is based on several approaches, i.e. industrial organisation, industry life cycle theory and the literature on renewable energy support. It considers the aforementioned two effects on market concentration in the project ownership stage of the value chain. The empirical analysis illustrates the viability of this framework with a case study of wind energy in Spain, and suggests that it can be applied to other countries and RE sectors. Using primary and secondary data sources, the paper shows that there has been an increase in market concentration, although this has not been monotonic, suggesting the influence of the aforementioned two main effects. •Market concentration in the wind energy sector is analysed.•An analytical framework on market concentration which combines different approaches is provided.•Two major types of effects are discerned: the consolidation effects and the policy effects.•The framework is illustrated with an application to the wind energy sector in Spain.•An increase in market concentration is observed, although this has not been monotonic.