Managing the Transition to Renewable Energy: Theory and Practice from Local, Regional and Macro Perspective

Citation

Bhattacharyya, S.C. (2009), "Managing the Transition to Renewable Energy: Theory and Practice from Local, Regional and Macro Perspective", International Journal of Energy Sector Management, Vol. 3 No. 4, pp. 426-428. https://doi.org/10.1108/17506220911005786

As the name indicates, this title deals with the process of transition to a low carbon energy future and presents the theoretical concepts and frameworks, and their applications at multiple levels (e.g. macro and local levels). Through out the book, authors use the notion of transition – “a society‐wide innovation with a focus on basic or fundamental activities” – and transition management – a new reflexive governance approach to deal with the problems faced by the society. These ideas are presented in three parts: Part I presents the theoretical perspectives, Part II deals with the macro‐level applications while Part III investigates the local and regional level issues. A summary of the book and a brief introduction is presented in chapter 1.

There are five chapters in Part I. Chapter 2 introduces the concept of transition management and presents it as a new management paradigm at three levels: the strategic level where a small number of forerunners participate to deliberate the “persistent problem and possible future directions”; the tactical level where the structural barriers are considered and “transition paths” are formulated; and finally the operational level where “transition experiments and transition actions” are carried out. It is presented as “a cyclical, iterative, interactive and participatory stakeholder discourse process” (p. 5). Chapter 3 presents the multi‐level perspective on transition. The author presents the origin and development of the concept and discusses how the concept has been used in transition analysis and system innovations. A policy design example and future research directions in the MLP are also presented. The author claims that the concept can provide a “middle range theory for understanding profound socio‐technological change” (p. 48). Chapter 4 provides a detailed review of various economic disciplines providing some concepts relevant for understanding a transition. While this is a long chapter, its usefulness is somewhat limited as the message gets somewhat lost in the long review. Chapter 5 investigates socio‐technical changes using innovation theory where path dependence plays an important role. The author then provides some guidance on path creation towards sustainability but indicates that our understanding of socio‐technical changes and environmental sustainability is still inadequate. Chapter 6 introduces the evolutionary economics concepts and presents a framework using six concepts (namely bounded rationality, diversity, innovation, selection, path dependence and lock‐in, and co‐evolution). The framework is then applied to evaluate three technologies – fuel cell, solar PV and nuclear fusion.

Part 2 of the book contains four chapters on the implementation of renewable projects at the macro level. Chapter 7 analyses the barriers and future options for electricity transitions of the Dutch electricity system. The authors argue that to understand path dependencies, historical research is required. They use the multi‐level perspective to analyse the historical developments and analyse the long‐term developments in the Dutch electricity system. The authors then investigate various alternative technologies and suggest that many renewable energy options have “run into trouble with regard to implementation and societal embedding” (p. 210). This chapter suggests that transition has already started but it “is important to keep the other, more radical options alive, and facilitate learning processes and the network building” (p. 210). Chapter 8 provides “an insider's view” of the Dutch transition process and presents the approach taken, pathways considered and the challenges faced. It presents a detailed picture of the Dutch thinking on transforming the economy over the long‐term and the changed role of the government in ensuring the process. Chapter 9 presents the management aspect of the Dutch energy transition and uses “the multi‐level, multi‐phase transition management framework to evaluate the energy transition approach”. The authors indicate that “more awareness and interest in the issue” were created and “a new round of deliberations about visions, agendas and experiments” (p. 264) is being initiated. But the chapter identifies a number of neglected areas that require special attention. Most important among them are the sense of urgency and lack of inspiring vision. Chapter 10 evaluates the Dutch energy innovation policies using the evolutionary economic framework and applies the six concepts used in Chapter 6. The authors suggest that “only those aspects of evolutionary theory that do not conflict with notions of efficiency are put into practice”.

Part III contains three chapters dealing with the local and regional renewable energy issues. Chapter 11 uses the multi‐criteria approach to renewable energy design and planning. The chapter presents an integrated design and planning framework considering a multi‐level activity and includes multi‐dimensional factors (namely technological, economic, environmental and social). The framework is then applied to a case study in the Greek island of Ikaria and the authors show that the framework leads to solutions acceptable to various stakeholders. Chapter 12 presents two case studies to evaluate wind energy projects in the Netherlands. This also applies the multi‐criteria decision framework presented in the previous chapter but the authors apply the framework differently in two case studies: one approaches the problem from a top‐down perspective while in the other a bottom‐up approach is used. The chapter shows how such a tool can facilitate decision‐making through a deliberative process at the local level. Chapter 13 – the last chapter of the book – applies an extended multi‐criteria framework that overcomes the technocratic approach of decision making by including a participatory policy process and by it making flexible and adaptable for real‐world applications. The chapter presents two Spanish cases where the social multi‐criteria evaluation framework is applied.

Clearly, the book covers both the theoretical developments and practical applications that are of interest to policymakers, students of energy policy and researchers in the areas of evolutionary economics, renewable energies and energy policy. Yet, I note a number of shortcomings. First, the book was developed from papers presented in a workshop in 2005 in Amsterdam and consequently, the focus is mainly on the Dutch system of transition management. This could have been captured in the title. However, the content of the book is equally relevant for other regions or jurisdictions. Second, as is usual in such books, there is evidently some amount of overlap and repetition. This is more evident in Part I where various authors have discussed the evolutionary economics concepts, multi‐level perspectives and path dependence. This could have been taken care of through editing. Third, the references were somewhat old. All publications have to consider a cut‐off date but in this case, it appears to be one to two years old. Fourth, the first part of the book being theoretical in nature does not really relate to renewable energies. The reader has to wait until chapter 6 to see some mention of energy specific treatments. Fifth, the link between the theoretical part and the applications is not always evident, especially in the third part where multi‐criteria decision‐making is used. How this follows an evolutionary approach and relates to the transition management frameworks presented earlier is not self‐evident.

Despite these shortcomings, this title surely adds value to the existing knowledge and is an essential reading for anyone interested in the transition to a low‐carbon energy economy. This book will surely provide an impetus to further transition studies and help stimulate further research in this area.