TY - JOUR
T1 - Dialectic tensions driving niche creation – A case study of a local energy system
AU - Valta, Jussi
AU - Mäkinen, Saku J.
AU - Kirjavainen, Johanna
N1 - Funding Information:
We want to thank ProCemPlus researchers, participants of various seminars on the topic and all the people interviewed. We acknowledge financial support from Tekes BusinessFinland project ProCem and ProCemPlus and Academy of Finland grant number 279087 and Fortum Foundation grant number 20190188.
Funding Information:
We want to thank ProCemPlus researchers, participants of various seminars on the topic and all the people interviewed. We acknowledge financial support from TekesBusinessFinland project ProCem and ProCemPlus and Academy of Finland grant number 279087 and Fortum Foundation grant number 20190188.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2022/3
Y1 - 2022/3
N2 - Local energy systems (LESs), such as energy communities and microgrids, are seen as significant contributors to the energy transition, but their creation requires contested institutional changes to the centralized energy regime. We explore the creation process of a groundbreaking LES project from the multi-level and dialectic perspectives. Our results show a tension-driven institutional change process that includes the dialectic perspective's four principles: institutional contradictions, praxis, social construction, and totality. Based on the learnings of the case study, we highlight the effect of institutional contradictions on incumbent actors’ agency, boundary spanners’ role in triggering praxis, and tensions in niche–regime interactions. We show with the case study that the dialectic perspective together with the multi-level perspective aid in understanding the creation process and further aid in designing future LES creation processes by providing normative descriptions of contradictions, tensions, and opportune solutions for them beforehand. We also discuss the limitations of the approach.
AB - Local energy systems (LESs), such as energy communities and microgrids, are seen as significant contributors to the energy transition, but their creation requires contested institutional changes to the centralized energy regime. We explore the creation process of a groundbreaking LES project from the multi-level and dialectic perspectives. Our results show a tension-driven institutional change process that includes the dialectic perspective's four principles: institutional contradictions, praxis, social construction, and totality. Based on the learnings of the case study, we highlight the effect of institutional contradictions on incumbent actors’ agency, boundary spanners’ role in triggering praxis, and tensions in niche–regime interactions. We show with the case study that the dialectic perspective together with the multi-level perspective aid in understanding the creation process and further aid in designing future LES creation processes by providing normative descriptions of contradictions, tensions, and opportune solutions for them beforehand. We also discuss the limitations of the approach.
KW - Dialectic process
KW - Local energy systems
KW - Multi-level perspective
KW - Socio-technical transition
U2 - 10.1016/j.eist.2021.12.001
DO - 10.1016/j.eist.2021.12.001
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85121328479
SN - 2210-4224
VL - 42
SP - 99
EP - 111
JO - ENVIRONMENTAL INNOVATION AND SOCIETAL TRANSITIONS
JF - ENVIRONMENTAL INNOVATION AND SOCIETAL TRANSITIONS
ER -
