DOI

Summary
This paper is concerned with the comparison of three countries and their attempts to increase the adoption and use of renewable energy technologies by using the transitions management concept. Transitions management (TM) focusses on the challenges associated with ex ante attempts to anticipate and direct transitions over a long period of time. TM is concerned with identifying processes of socio-technical change ensuring that a high chance of developing future conditions for environmental sustainability. The concept requires openness, flexibility and reflexivity for successful governance of sustainability transitions. Therefore, the primary objective of TM is to encompass a radical transformation in the direction of a sustainable society under conditions of socio-technical complexity.

Factors affecting TM of renewable energy include:




Consumers
Householders
Community groups
Organisations




The case studies implored for this paper include the review of Germany, USA and the UK.

Relevance to Complex Systems Knowledge




Germany

Germany’s motivation to uptake renewable energies is associated with energy import costs which were approximately €87 million in 2012. They were once the largest importer of Russian gas which proved unreliable as a source. At a policy level, Germany has adopted the ‘green economy’ quite well which requires the export of green technologies and committing a large investment for these changes. The current energy infrastructure requires an upgrade to manage the growing popularity of solar pv uptake – this modernisation has now proven to be far more difficult and complex that initially assumed. The government incentivised large firms to leave the grid and develop their own power generation infrastructure – this has already begun in a successful manner. New methods need to be developed for energy storage. An agreement was reached to strategically slow down the development electricity generated from renewable sources to contain costs and protect the grid.




USA

Many parts of the USA rely on electricity transmission from a grid over 100 years old. Proven to be very vulnerable to extreme weather events and in the last 30 years, 144 events have cause $1 trillion in damages, in the last 9 years there over 670 power cuts affecting more than 50000 people. Addressing these weaknesses is the USA’s main prerogative.  Domestic solar use and battery storage was adopted by many in response to the systems vulnerability. A controversial decision in Nevada was put forth implemented to protect the threat to the grid – new tariffs will gradually increase until they triple the monthly fees that solar users pay to use the electric grid and as well as that, the users reimbursement payments for excess energy contributing to the network was cut by three quarters.







The U.K




The U.K differs in that users are choosing to retain their connections with the national grid. A number of factors attribute to this – wide national coverage afforded by the grid and a competitive pricing introduced through privatisation of electricity supply, U.K consumers are slow to uptake micro-generation technologies. However, domestic installations are encouraged through policy with a grid ‘feed in’ payment. The pace of change in the U.K has been much slower than that of Germanys or the USA. However, there has been some promising trends for uptaking solar technologies domestically when in 2014 there was a doubling of the national capacity from 2.4 gigawatts to 4.4 gigawatts – partly due to price drops in modules. A looming ‘capacity crunch’ caused by the movement towards climate action result in the rate of closure of fossil fuel burning power stations contrasted with the rate of developing renewable replacement. Rapidly growing London population and the requirements for new housing will bring with it further issues of demand and supply. Plans are in place to counteract this population growth with a focus on local generation and supply.

Relevance for Complex Systems Knowledge
This study is relevant to the energy systems topic as it relates to complex systems knowledge. Transition management is showcased in the case studies above for the approach to understanding ongoing socio-technical change towards sustainability. 

The authors state that “socio-economic arrangements that require sustainable change should be considered as a complex system”. The TM approach is designed to describe different transition paths and is this case is associated with the uptake of renewable energy. The TM methodology could be utilised in a similar study or could be a resource for teaching.

The paper offers insight into the complex energy of real world examples in the form of case studies

Point of Strength
The three case studies, Germany, USA, and the UK could be used as valuable teaching resources for sustainable development and renewable energy.

The TM method offers itself as a useful tool for integrating current affairs and changes in societies that may impact the future developing of energy systems.