Adaptive capacities, path creation and variants of sectoral change: the case of the transformation of the German energy supply system

"Since the proclamation of the German 'Energiewende' by the Federal Government in 2011, the transition of the energy supply system has accelerated. In 2011, the 'Helmholtz-Alliance' - 'ENERGY TRANS - Future Infrastructures for Meeting Energy Demands. Towards Sustainability and Social Compatibility" - was launched to perform an interdisciplinary analysis of the social challenges presented by the energy transition. The study presented here, 'Adaptive Capacities, Path Creation, and Variants of Sectoral Change' is embedded within the 'Helmholtz-Alliance' and analyses the organizational changes within the German energy system from a sociological perspective. The study applies the 'Theory of Strategic Action Fields' by Neil Fligstein and Doug McAdam - an actor-centred approach focusing on the change of organizational fields. The study is divided into four projects. Project one, 'The Role of the Leading German Energy Providers in the Transformation of the German Energy System', and project two, 'The Integration of Volatile Renewable Energies into the German Electricity System - The Role of the Established Power Industry for the Extension of Electricity Grids - A Comparative Case Study', focus on the established players in the German energy system - the big energy-provider companies. Project three, 'Challenging the Established Consensus? Local/Regional Initiatives and the Transformation of the Energy Sector', examines challengers acting at a decentralized level. The thematic framework of the projects requires a qualitative research design and applies the methods of document analysis, expert interviews, and focus groups. A fourth project, 'Patterns and Variants of the Gradual Socio-Technical Transformation of the Energy Sector”, integrates the results of projects one to three and reports on the overall changes in the German energy supply system. This integration of results applies Ulrich Dolata's theory on the transformation of socio-technical sectors. This study not only brings together empirical information on the progress of energy transitions, but also contributes to the theoretical discourse within the social sciences by empirically testing theories that so far have not yet been sufficiently examined." (author's abstract

The enactment of socio-technical transition pathways: a reformulated typology and a comparative multi-level analysis of theGerman and UK low-carbon electricity transitions (1990–2014)

tThis paper aims to make two contributions to the sustainability transitions literature, in particular theGeels and Schot (2007. Res. Policy 36(3), 399) transition pathways typology. First, it reformulates anddifferentiates the typology through the lens of endogenous enactment, identifying the main patternsfor actors, formal institutions, and technologies. Second, it suggests that transitions may shift betweenpathways, depending on struggles over technology deployment and institutions. Both contributions aredemonstrated with a comparative analysis of unfolding low-carbon electricity transitions in Germanyand the UK between 1990–2014. The analysis shows that Germany is on a substitution pathway, enactedby new entrants deploying small-scale renewable electricity technologies (RETs), while the UK is on atransformation pathway, enacted by incumbent actors deploying large-scale RETs. Further analysis showsthat the German transition has recently shifted from a ‘stretch-and-transform’ substitution pathway to a‘fit-and-conform’ pathway, because of a fightback from utilities and altered institutions. It also shows thatthe UK transition moved from moderate to substantial incumbent reorientation, as government policiesbecame stronger. Recent policy changes, however, substantially downscaled UK renewables support,which is likely to shift the transition back to weaker reorientation

Die deutschen Stromkonzerne und erneuerbare Energien: Über organisationale Trägheit und ihre Überwindung

Der Artikel liefert eine historisch-rekonstruierende Untersuchung des Umgangs der deutschen Stromkonzerne E.ON, RWE, EnBW und Vattenfall mit erneuerbaren Energien. Die Haltung der Unternehmen wandelte sich in den zurückliegenden dreißig Jahren von einer antagonistischen Ablehnung erneuerbarer Energien bis zu einer Fokussierung auf diesen Geschäftsbereich. Die Untersuchung baut auf einer breiten Rezeption der sozialwissenschaftlichen Theoriediskussion zu organisationaler Trägheit auf und entwickelt einen forschungspraktischen Analyserahmen, der verschiedene Dimensionen und Mechanismen des Phänomens unterscheidet. Auf Basis von Interviews mit Führungskräften, der qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse von Unternehmens- und Presseberichten und quantitativen Zeitreihen wird der Prozess der Reorientierung der Stromkonzerne theoriegeleitet rekonstruiert. Der Text leistet einen Beitrag zu einer reflexiv-beobachtenden Nachhaltigkeitsforschung, indem er den Blick auf die innerorganisationalen Hindernisse nachhaltiger sektoraler Transformation und die Voraussetzungen zu deren Überwindung lenkt. This article provides a historical-reconstructive analysis of the approach to renewable energies taken by German electricity companies E.ON, RWE, EnBW and Vattenfall. Over the past 30 years, the companies’ strategy has changed from an antagonistic rejection of renewable energies to a focus on this business sector. The study builds on a broad reception of the debate on organisational inertia in social science and presents it in an analytical framework that identifies different dimensions and mechanisms of organisational inertia. This paper offers a theory-guided reconstruction of the process of reorientation by electricity companies based on interviews with executives, a qualitative content analysis of business and press reports, and quantitative time series. The paper aims to contribute to a sociology of sustainability by drawing attention to the intra-organisational obstacles to sustainable sectoral transformation and the opportunities for overcoming them. (peer reviewed