Niche construction and empowerment through socio-political work. A meta-analysis of six low-carbon technology cases

In the sustainability transitions literature the idea of ‘protective space’ shielding niche innovations from unfriendly selection environments is a fundamental concept. Few studies pause to consider how and by whom such protective space is created, maintained or expanded. The paper develops three propositions to deepen our understanding of the ‘outward-oriented socio-political work’ performed by technology advocates. The paper conducts a meta-analysis of six low-carbon technology case studies in the UK and The Netherlands. In each case, analysis finds the cases relevant to the propositions, but requiring finer nuance and further development

Financing renewable energy: Who is financing what and why it matters

Successful financing of innovation in renewable energy (RE) requires a better understanding of the relationship between different types of finance and their willingness to invest in RE. We study the ‘direction’ of innovation that financial actors create. Focusing on the deployment phase of innovation, we use Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) data to construct a global dataset of RE asset finance flows from 2004 to 2014. We analyze the asset portfolios of different RE technologies financed by different financial actors according to their size, skew and level of risk. We use entropy-based indices to measure skew, and construct a heuristic index of risk that varies with the technology, time, and country of investment to measure risk. We start by comparing the behavior of private and public types of finance and then disaggregate further along 11 different financial actors (e.g. private banks, public banks, and utilities) and 11 types of RE technologies that are invested in (e.g. different kinds of power generation from solar radiation, wind or biomass). Financial actors vary considerably in the composition of their investment portfolio, creating directions towards particular technologies. Public financial actors invest in portfolios with higher risk technologies, also creating a direction; they also increased their share in total investment dramatically over time. We use these preliminary results to formulate new research questions about how finance affects the directionality of innovation, and the implications for RE policies

No way out? Analysing policy options to alleviate or derail success-to-the-successful in the energy system

Contains fulltext : 91359.pdf (author's version ) (Open Access)29th International System Dynamics Conference, 24 juli 201

The energy system, lock-in and adaptation

Contains fulltext : 119102.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 05 november 2013Promotores : Vennix, J.A.M., Sinke, W.C

Energy business transformation & Earth system resilience: A metabolic approach

At present, an energy transition consistent with achieving the goals set out by the Paris climate agreement is not occurring, primarily due to lock-in dynamics at the societal and energy business complex level. To contribute to discussions on how to unlock a major system transformation, we introduce here a new framework that characterises the energy business as a system and traces its metabolism. Drawing analogies with biology and using metabolic maps, we present a systems analysis across-scales; from the Earth system down to the energy business purpose level. Our analysis shows energy directors and managers face unfavourable conditions that inhibit radical business model decisions consistent with safely achieving emission targets. One such condition is how the intensity of the Earth system feedback signal is significantly reduced by the time it arrives at the corporate decision-making level, primarily due to social information filters and corporate law. Secondly, the shareholder profit maximisation purpose of companies is found to hold a systemic role in the energy business lock-in and may be incompatible with avoiding dangerous climate change. To achieve an energy transformation that safeguards Earth system resilience, our discussion suggests focusing on the intrinsic purpose and governance of the system, arguing that relying on external economic adjustments alone, such as carbon pricing, may help but could fall short of achieving the necessary shift. Fundamental Earth stewardship is needed from energy business actors. Like with nationally determined contributions (i.e. INDCs), a bottom-up approach to proposing contributions to climate-consistent business model pathways may facilitate the dialogue

Energy systems transformation

Contains fulltext : 112051.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access

From National to Cross-Border Support of Renewable Electricity in the European Union

The ability to cooperate in the expansion of renewable energies has long been recognized as welfare improving. However, the existing cooperation mechanisms introduced in the European Union appear to be insufficient to facilitate an efficient level of trade across borders. In this chapter we focus on the electricity sector and identify several characteristics of the market for renewable electricity support that contribute to this failure. We then propose a novel mechanism for cross-border support of renewable electricity capacity that addresses these failures in two steps: First, a cross-border impact factor is derived that provides an approximate indication of the spillover of benefits induced from renewable electricity capacity across the member states of the European Union. Second, a cross-border auction in which member states and generators of renewable electricity bid to either buy or supply additional renewable electricity capacity. The auctioneer uses the cross-border impact factor to determine the aggregate cross-border willingness to pay for additional renewable electricity capacity in each member state and selects the set of bids, which maximizes the EU-wide surplus. Inevitably, the design of the mechanism uses a simplified representation of the underlying system ‘reality’ in order to achieve the complexity reduction needed to create a ‘level playing field’, but in our view it would still represent cross-border impacts accurately enough to spur efficiency improvements in the right direction. Moreover, the fact that it could be integrated into the emerging market and regulatory framework in the European Union fairly easily is appealing