Against the background of finite fossil fuels, impacts of climate change, and risks of nuclear energy, the far-reaching transformation of energy systems is essential, but also implies risks and undesired directions, e.g. electricity grid overloads, unaffordability, acceptance problems, or still not known and unexpected surprises. In order to follow the direction being actually intended, the question arises how to guide these processes. In this context, guiding concepts - understood as socially shared, simultaneously desired and deemed feasible ideas of future - can play an important role in energy systems, but they are controversial within the scientific community in terms of whether they can be used consciously to give orientation for transformations. In my dissertation I investigated empirically such guiding orientation processes, in which guiding concepts are specified, then spread and implemented. With the help of social-scientific methods, I examined the effectiveness of these processes and found out that it is possible to guide transformation processes with their help, if certain criteria are considered being represented in my dissertation
