IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i4p1783-d494971.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Application of Multi-Actor Multi-Criteria Analysis for Transition Management in Energy Communities

Author

Listed:
  • Maria Luisa Lode

    (Mobility, Logistics and Automotive Technology Research Center, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium)

  • Geert te Boveldt

    (Mobility, Logistics and Automotive Technology Research Center, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium)

  • Cathy Macharis

    (Mobility, Logistics and Automotive Technology Research Center, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium)

  • Thierry Coosemans

    (Mobility, Logistics and Automotive Technology Research Center, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium)

Abstract

Energy communities (ECs) play a role in the transition towards a low-carbon economy by 2050 and receive increasing attention from stakeholders within the energy sector. To foster ECs, transition management (TM) is a promising managerial approach to steer and guide the transition towards more sustainable practices. However, TM lacks a consistent methodology that addresses the criticism of the current application. To investigate what a structured and replicable TM approach for ECs can look like, this paper applies the multi-actor multi-criteria analysis (MAMCA), a participative multi-criteria decision method, to a case study EC in the Netherlands involving various stakeholders. The impact of the application on power relations, the political sphere, sustainability conceptualization, guidance of transitions, and representation was analyzed. MAMCA was found useful for multi-stakeholder settings seen in potential ECs, offering a unifying methodology for the practical application of TM. In the EC setting, the added value of MAMCA within TM lies more in the social representation, insight into stakeholder viewpoints, and communication rather than in final decision-making.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Luisa Lode & Geert te Boveldt & Cathy Macharis & Thierry Coosemans, 2021. "Application of Multi-Actor Multi-Criteria Analysis for Transition Management in Energy Communities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:1783-:d:494971
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/1783/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/1783/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Smith, Adrian & Stirling, Andy & Berkhout, Frans, 2005. "The governance of sustainable socio-technical transitions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 1491-1510, December.
    2. Edmondson, Duncan L. & Kern, Florian & Rogge, Karoline S., 2019. "The co-evolution of policy mixes and socio-technical systems: Towards a conceptual framework of policy mix feedback in sustainability transitions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(10).
    3. Gamboa, Gonzalo & Munda, Giuseppe, 2007. "The problem of windfarm location: A social multi-criteria evaluation framework," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 1564-1583, March.
    4. Rick Bosman & Derk Loorbach & Jan Rotmans & Roel Van Raak, 2018. "Carbon Lock-Out: Leading the Fossil Port of Rotterdam into Transition," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-20, July.
    5. Wustenhagen, Rolf & Wolsink, Maarten & Burer, Mary Jean, 2007. "Social acceptance of renewable energy innovation: An introduction to the concept," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 2683-2691, May.
    6. James Meadowcroft, 2009. "What about the politics? Sustainable development, transition management, and long term energy transitions," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 42(4), pages 323-340, November.
    7. Hölscher, Katharina & Wittmayer, Julia M. & Avelino, Flor & Giezen, Mendel, 2019. "Opening up the transition arena: An analysis of (dis)empowerment of civil society actors in transition management in cities," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 176-185.
    8. Flor Avelino, 2009. "Empowerment and the challenge of applying transition management to ongoing projects," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 42(4), pages 369-390, November.
    9. Geels, Frank W., 2002. "Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration processes: a multi-level perspective and a case-study," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(8-9), pages 1257-1274, December.
    10. Giuseppe Scannella & Michel Beuthe, 2003. "Valuation of road projects with uncertain outcomes," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 35-50, January.
    11. Arwin van Buuren & Derk Loorbach, 2009. "Policy innovation in isolation?," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(3), pages 375-392, May.
    12. 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.
    13. Elizabeth Shove & Gordon Walker, 2007. "Caution! Transitions Ahead: Politics, Practice, and Sustainable Transition Management," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 39(4), pages 763-770, April.
    14. Carolyn Hendriks, 2009. "Policy design without democracy? Making democratic sense of transition management," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 42(4), pages 341-368, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ilaria Marotta & Francesco Guarino & Sonia Longo & Maurizio Cellura, 2021. "Environmental Sustainability Approaches and Positive Energy Districts: A Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-45, November.
    2. Jiang, Like & Chen, Haibo & Chen, Zhiyang, 2022. "City readiness for connected and autonomous vehicles: A multi-stakeholder and multi-criteria analysis through analytic hierarchy process," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 13-24.
    3. Anna Yström & Marine Agogué & Romain Rampa, 2021. "Preparing an Organization for Sustainability Transitions—The Making of Boundary Spanners through Design Training," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-17, July.

    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. Maarten Wolsink, 2020. "Framing in Renewable Energy Policies: A Glossary," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-31, June.
    2. Jan-Peter Voß & Adrian Smith & John Grin, 2009. "Designing long-term policy: rethinking transition management," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 42(4), pages 275-302, November.
    3. Lowes, Richard & Woodman, Bridget & Fitch-Roy, Oscar, 2019. "Policy change, power and the development of Great Britain's Renewable Heat Incentive," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 410-421.
    4. Goddard, George & Farrelly, Megan A., 2018. "Just transition management: Balancing just outcomes with just processes in Australian renewable energy transitions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 225(C), pages 110-123.
    5. Hölscher, Katharina & Wittmayer, Julia M. & Avelino, Flor & Giezen, Mendel, 2019. "Opening up the transition arena: An analysis of (dis)empowerment of civil society actors in transition management in cities," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 176-185.
    6. Giorgia Silvestri & Julia M. Wittmayer & Karlijn Schipper & Robinah Kulabako & Sampson Oduro-Kwarteng & Philip Nyenje & Hans Komakech & Roel Van Raak, 2018. "Transition Management for Improving the Sustainability of WASH Services in Informal Settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa—An Exploration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, November.
    7. 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.
    8. Timo Kaphengst & Eike Karola Velten, 2014. "Energy Transition and Behavioural Change in Rural Areas – The Role of Energy Cooperatives. WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 60," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 47214, April.
    9. Ben Zhang & Lei Ma & Zheng Liu, 2020. "Literature Trend Identification of Sustainable Technology Innovation: A Bibliometric Study Based on Co-Citation and Main Path Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-20, October.
    10. Francisco Chicombo, Adélia Filosa & Musango, Josephine Kaviti, 2022. "Towards a theoretical framework for gendered energy transition at the urban household level: A case of Mozambique," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    11. Jasminka Young & Aleksandar Macura, 2023. "Forging Local Energy Transition in the Most Carbon-Intensive European Region of the Western Balkans," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-29, February.
    12. Griet Juwet & Michael Ryckewaert, 2018. "Energy Transition in the Nebular City: Connecting Transition Thinking, Metabolism Studies, and Urban Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-20, March.
    13. Contesse, Maria & Duncan, Jessica & Legun, Katharine & Klerkx, Laurens, 2021. "Unravelling non-human agency in sustainability transitions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    14. Debbie Hopkins & Tim Schwanen, 2018. "Automated Mobility Transitions: Governing Processes in the UK," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-19, March.
    15. Bongsuk Sung & Sang-Do Park, 2018. "Who Drives the Transition to a Renewable-Energy Economy? Multi-Actor Perspective on Social Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-32, February.
    16. Sergent, Arnaud, 2014. "Sector-based political analysis of energy transition: Green shift in the forest policy regime in France," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 491-500.
    17. Matthew Lockwood & Caroline Kuzemko & Catherine Mitchell & Richard Hoggett, 2017. "Historical institutionalism and the politics of sustainable energy transitions: A research agenda," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(2), pages 312-333, March.
    18. Nihit Goyal & Michael Howlett, 2018. "Technology and Instrument Constituencies as Agents of Innovation: Sustainability Transitions and the Governance of Urban Transport," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-14, May.
    19. Markard, Jochen & Raven, Rob & Truffer, Bernhard, 2012. "Sustainability transitions: An emerging field of research and its prospects," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 955-967.
    20. Rob Raven & Johan Schot & Frans Berkhout, 2012. "Breaking out of the national: Foundations for a multi-scalar perspective of socio-technical transitions," Working Papers 12-03, Eindhoven Center for Innovation Studies, revised Aug 2012.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:1783-:d:494971. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.