Quels soutiens aux énergies renouvelables électriques ?

While most developed and emergent countries support renewable energies in the power sector, they do so in a different manner. The three main existing support systems are feedin-tariffs, feed-in-premiums and tradable renewable quotas. We provide a survey of the literature which compares these support systems. The covered literature comprises academic works but also specialised press and international organisation reports. We conclude that tradable renewable quotas suffer from many weaknesses compared to the other two : bad reaction to uncertainty, important risk for funders which increases investment cost, higher transaction costs. Both feedin-tariffs and premiums have pros and cons and there is little evidence that the transition from the former to the latter, currently occurring in Germany and France, is justified. Finally, beyond the choice between tariff and premium, many concrete choices are at least as important such as the way to finance the support and the differentiation between market segments, necessary to limit the rents but potentially a source of inefficiency.