IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v186y2024ics0301421524000314.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Governing experimentation to decarbonise the electricity sector

Author

Listed:
  • Owens, Katherine

Abstract

This article explores one of the most critical challenges for public and private actors attempting to achieve deep decarbonisation: how to develop and decide on decarbonisation solutions in the face of deep uncertainty and significant coordination difficulties. Through the lens of experimentation, the article presents the case of Australia and its efforts to reconfigure its national electricity grid, focussing on the roles and governance approach adopted for a key institution, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, and its Accelerator Lab, which are at the leading edge of experimentation. The article demonstrates how experimentation can be governed by a combination of institutional, regulatory and funding tools to generate new knowledge and decarbonisation solutions in a context where no one entity has all of the answers or can deliver all of the required outcomes. It shows that in the context of experimentation, the role of law and governance is transformed from a direct regulatory role to one that constructs and implements a protected arena designed to incentivise, identify, coordinate, protect and disseminate innovation. The article then provides key insights regarding the governance framework needed to conduct various forms of experimentation, a concept and practice that is politically challenging and constantly evolving.

Suggested Citation

  • Owens, Katherine, 2024. "Governing experimentation to decarbonise the electricity sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:186:y:2024:i:c:s0301421524000314
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2024.114011
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421524000314
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2024.114011?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Smith, Adrian & Raven, Rob, 2012. "What is protective space? Reconsidering niches in transitions to sustainability," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 1025-1036.
    2. Hermans, Leon M. & Haasnoot, Marjolijn & ter Maat, Judith & Kwakkel, Jan H., 2017. "Designing monitoring arrangements for collaborative learning about adaptation pathways," Environmental Science & Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 29-38.
    3. Dani Rodrik, 2014. "Green industrial policy," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 30(3), pages 469-491.
    4. Rodrik, Dani, 2004. "Industrial Policy for the Twenty-First Century," CEPR Discussion Papers 4767, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Manfred M. Fischer & Josef Fröhlich, 2001. "Knowledge, Complexity and Innovation Systems: Prologue," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Manfred M. Fischer & Josef Fröhlich (ed.), Knowledge, Complexity and Innovation Systems, chapter 1, pages 1-17, Springer.
    6. Bentley Allan & Joanna I. Lewis & Thomas Oatley, 2021. "Green Industrial Policy and the Global Transformation of Climate Politics," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 21(4), pages 1-19, Autumn.
    7. Mariana Mazzucato & Gregor Semieniuk, 2017. "Public financing of innovation: new questions," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 33(1), pages 24-48.
    8. Ansell, Christopher K. & Bartenberger, Martin, 2016. "Varieties of experimentalism," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 64-73.
    9. Smith, Adrian & Voß, Jan-Peter & Grin, John, 2010. "Innovation studies and sustainability transitions: The allure of the multi-level perspective and its challenges," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 435-448, May.
    10. Andrew J. Jordan & Dave Huitema & Mikael Hildén & Harro van Asselt & Tim J. Rayner & Jonas J. Schoenefeld & Jale Tosun & Johanna Forster & Elin L. Boasson, 2015. "Emergence of polycentric climate governance and its future prospects," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 5(11), pages 977-982, November.
    11. Richard B. Stewart & Michael Oppenheimer & Bryce Rudyk, 2017. "Building blocks: a strategy for near-term action within the new global climate framework," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 1-13, September.
    12. Manfred M. Fischer & Josef Fröhlich (ed.), 2001. "Knowledge, Complexity and Innovation Systems," Advances in Spatial Science, Springer, number 978-3-662-04546-6.
    13. Bos, J.J. & Brown, R.R., 2012. "Governance experimentation and factors of success in socio-technical transitions in the urban water sector," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 79(7), pages 1340-1353.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Frans Sengers & Bruno Turnheim & Frans Berkhout, 2021. "Beyond experiments: Embedding outcomes in climate governance," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 39(6), pages 1148-1171, September.
    2. Matthijs Janssen, 2016. "What bangs for your bucks? Assessing the design and impact of transformative policy," Innovation Studies Utrecht (ISU) working paper series 16-05, Utrecht University, Department of Innovation Studies, revised Dec 2016.
    3. Janssen, Matthijs J., 2019. "What bangs for your buck? Assessing the design and impact of Dutch transformative policy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 78-94.
    4. Jonas Meckling & Jesse Strecker, 2023. "Green bargains: leveraging public investment to advance climate regulation," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 418-429, April.
    5. Diogo Ferraz & Fernanda P. S. Falguera & Enzo B. Mariano & Dominik Hartmann, 2021. "Linking Economic Complexity, Diversification, and Industrial Policy with Sustainable Development: A Structured Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-29, January.
    6. Rachel Greer & Timo Wirth & Derk Loorbach, 2023. "The Circular Decision-Making Tree: an Operational Framework," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 693-718, June.
    7. Jain, Sanjay, 2020. "Fumbling to the future? Socio-technical regime change in the recorded music industry," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    8. Haarstad, Håvard & Sareen, Siddharth & Kandt, Jens & Coenen, Lars & Cook, Matthew, 2022. "Beyond automobility? Lock-in of past failures in low-carbon urban mobility innovations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    9. Fagerberg, Jan, 2018. "Mobilizing innovation for sustainability transitions: A comment on transformative innovation policy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(9), pages 1568-1576.
    10. Hilde Nykamp, 2020. "Policy Mix for a Transition to Sustainability: Green Buildings in Norway," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-17, January.
    11. McMeekin, Andrew & Geels, Frank W. & Hodson, Mike, 2019. "Mapping the winds of whole system reconfiguration: Analysing low-carbon transformations across production, distribution and consumption in the UK electricity system (1990–2016)," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(5), pages 1216-1231.
    12. Andersen, Allan Dahl & Markard, Jochen, 2020. "Multi-technology interaction in socio-technical transitions: How recent dynamics in HVDC technology can inform transition theories," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    13. Waes, Arnoud van & Nikolaeva, Anna & Raven, Rob, 2021. "Challenges and dilemmas in strategic urban experimentationAn analysis of four cycling innovation living labs," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    14. Tyfield, David & Zuev, Dennis, 2018. "Stasis, dynamism and emergence of the e-mobility system in China: A power relational perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 259-270.
    15. Attila Havas & Doris Schartinger & K. Matthias Weber, 2022. "Innovation Studies, Social Innovation, and Sustainability Transitions Research: From mutual ignorance towards an integrative perspective?," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 2227, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    16. John Holmberg & Johan Larsson, 2018. "A Sustainability Lighthouse—Supporting Transition Leadership and Conversations on Desirable Futures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-25, October.
    17. Kejia Yang & Johan Schot & Bernhard Truffer, 2020. "Shaping the Directionality of Sustainability Transitions: The Diverging Development Patterns of Solar PV in Two Chinese Provinces," SPRU Working Paper Series 2020-14, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    18. Martin, Chris J., 2016. "The sharing economy: A pathway to sustainability or a nightmarish form of neoliberal capitalism?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 149-159.
    19. Jonas Heiberg & Christian Binz & Bernhard Truffer, 2020. "Assessing transitions through socio-technical network analysis – a methodological framework and a case study from the water sector," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2035, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Aug 2020.
    20. Nadezhda Zamyatina & Alexander Pilyasov, 2016. "Single-Industry Towns of Russia: Lock-In and Drivers of Innovative Search," Foresight and STI Governance (Foresight-Russia till No. 3/2015), National Research University Higher School of Economics, vol. 10(3), pages 53-64.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:186:y:2024:i:c:s0301421524000314. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.