Infrastructure transformation as a socio-technical process — Implications for the governance of energy distribution networks in the UK
By Ronan Bolton, T. Foxon. 2015
187 citations recorded by the source corpus.
This paper seeks to uncover and examine the complex set of governance challenges associated with transforming energy distribution networks, which play a key enabling role in a low carbon energy transition. We argue that, although the importance of such infrastructure networks to sustainability and low carbon transitions in the energy, water and mobility sectors is clear, there is relatively little understanding of the social and institutional dimension of these systems and appropriate governance strategies for their transformation. This may be because the prevalent model of infrastructure governance in the energy and other sectors has prioritised short term time horizons and static efficiencies. In this paper we draw on the social shaping of technology literature to develop a broader understanding of infrastructure change as a dynamic socio-technical process. The empirical focus of the paper is on the development of more flexible and sustainable energy distribution systems as key enablers for the UK's low carbon transition. Focusing on electricity and heat networks we identify a range of governance challenges along different phases of the ‘infrastructure lifecycle’, and we draw lessons for the development of governance frameworks for the transformation of energy infrastructure more generally.
Subfields: Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Global and Planetary Change, Sociology and Political Science
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2f871bf6b6708a45c82baa379735c662ed79f13b
How researchers see this paper
The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.
In Electrical and Electronic Engineering
In Global and Planetary Change
In Sociology and Political Science
Citations in the corpus
- A socio-technical perspective on low carbon investment challenges – Insights for UK energy policy (2015, background): “…and efficiency are highly uncertain as their benefits are not specific to one particular segment of the market but diffused across the entire system, and are therefore more difficult to account for under current market arrangements (Bolton and Foxon, 2011, 2013b, 2014; Taylor et al., 2013).”
- Energy infrastructure and the fate of the nation: Introduction to special issue (2018, background): “nical capacity for moving, converting or storing energy [11,12].”
- Investing in low-carbon transitions: energy finance as an adaptive market (2017, unknown): “To frame this analysis, the authors draw on the ‘three domains of planetary economics’ proposed by Grubb, Hourcade, and Neuhoff (2014), co-evolutionary change approaches (Foxon, 2011), and theories of ‘adaptive’ finance (Lo, 2004, 2012; Soufian, Forbes, & Hudson, 2014).”
- Tensions in the transition: The politics of electricity distribution in South Africa (2018, background): “Yet, as Bolton and Foxon (2015: 538) argue, there is relatively ‘little understanding of the social and institutional dimension’ of the distribution network and ‘appropriate governance strategies for their transformation’.”
- Social tipping dynamics for stabilizing Earth’s climate by 2050 (2020, background): “2: Decentralized energy production Citizens, communities (73), local governments (162), policy makers (163), energy planners (164) Up to 100% in power supply (61) Community/town governance (165) Less than 10 y (81)”