Contributions of information systems research to decision support for wind market players

The mitigation of climate change through the transition toward sustainable and efficient energy systems based on renewable energy technologies is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century pursued by an ever-growing number of individuals, organizations, and societies in large. The extensive financial support of many nations for renewable energies has led to a rapid global spread of these technologies in the last two decades. Nowadays, as renewable energy technologies are maturing, governments tend to implement more market-based support mechanisms in order to scale back financial support, which poses new challenges for all market players. Consequently, in a consolidating market environment, only those players can establish themselves in the market, who have the right information at the right time in order to make the best possible decisions on newly emerging issues. In this context, this thesis demonstrates the high potential of information systems (IS) research on decision support systems (DSS) in making solution-oriented and impactful contributions to affected renewable energy stakeholders by improving the decision-making process through aggregated information. Six consecutive thematic topics are presented and discussed based on several research articles, each addressing a specific challenge of different renewable energy stakeholders by means of quantitative design science research (DSR) on DSS. The thematic spectrum ranges from micro-level challenges of individual renewable energy operators to macro-level challenges of policy-makers. A strong focus is placed on renewable energy finance and policy topics in the field of the wind energy sector. Findings indicate that the role of appropriate and customized DSS is becoming increasingly important for all market players, due to the constantly growing diversity of information and amount of data available in the rapidly digitalizing renewable energy sector. They further point to the strength and necessity of IS research with regard to its integrative function between other research areas and how this property could be used in order to respond to the need for more practical support for decision-makers concerned with environmental and sustainability issues.