The formation of feed-in tariffs and the emergence of wind power in Finnish routine corporatism: favoring the economics of large-scale energy production

We explore the role and influence of the Finnish energy elite's inner circle in the process of transition to renewable energy. Finland is a corporatist country where economic interest groups have privileged access to government decision-making circles. These dense networks reproduce decades-long energy policy structures that have always favored centralized electricity production, a model now implemented in renewable energy production. We address the formation of feed-in tariffs (FITs, a government subsidy for electricity produced by renewable energy) in Finland's routine corporatist system between 2006 and 2011. The views of inner-circle actors expressed in formal government documents correspond to legislative outcomes regarding FITs. They preferred market-based solutions and cost-efficiency and transferred the costs of FITs to the state budget, which benefited large companies. This was partly possible because Finland's corporatist energy policy model excludes non-inner-circle actors. Nevertheless, FITs have enabled the growing significance of wind power.