Keywords

Understanding energy innovation has shown energy innovation to be a messy process—a complex mix of technological advances, politics, and social learning and adaptation. A wide range of people and things are involved in energy innovation, from electricity meters to households. A downside of many academic theories is that they isolate one particular aspect of the innovation process and study that aspect to the exclusion of other processes that might be equally important. What I have tried to do in this book is to give an overview of many different types of theory, to show how these concepts and ideas might be applied together and in different contexts, to help further our understanding of energy innovation. I do so by using a range of smart grid case studies and grouping research findings under the four themes of nodes, networks, narratives, and nostalgia.

Not everything, of course, neatly fits into these four themes, so I am also guilty of trying to tidy up energy innovation. There is an underlying tension between abstracting and conceptualising energy innovation. Conceptualisation helps our understanding by identifying core actors and processes, but at the same time, it risks oversimplifying, either by missing the rich detail of each individual case study or by seeing everything through one particular conceptual lens. In this short concluding chapter, each of the four chapters is briefly summarised, including the key ideas and learnings, followed by a reflection on smart grids and energy innovation.

Key Ideas and Learnings

Networks

There are many different types of network that social scientists study to better understand processes of change, from policy networks to sociotechnical networks. In Chap. 2, I explored what is usefully highlighted when we conceptualise the different technologies and people involved in energy innovation as networks, using the case study of smart grids to consider all the types of actor involved. I looked at three short case studies of networks: international smart grid policy networks; a local community network on Bruny Island, Australia; and a fragile network—a digital metering program in the State of Victoria, Australia.

Networks are present at all sorts of scales and with different types of substance binding them together. The key features of networks that make it a useful metaphor for energy innovation are interconnectedness (relationships), flows, network-wide effects, and fragility. A lot of work goes into keeping networks stable; they are inherently fragile things, prone to breaking down. The electricity grid is a good example of this. A huge amount of resources (time, people, expertise, and technology) is applied constantly behind the scenes to keep our electricity supply running. It is only on rare occasions when the electricity grid breaks down that these resources are exposed and made visible, and the inherent fragility of the electricity network is revealed.

Some key learnings about energy innovation from the study of networks are:

  • There are lots of different types of network relevant to energy innovation: policy, social, sociotechnical, and business.

  • Energy programs and new initiatives, such as smart grids, are sometimes misconceived as technical programs, whereas in reality, they are sociotechnical (i.e., part social and part technical).

  • Decisions about energy innovations in any particular locale (state, city, region) are not made in isolation. International policy networks continuously circulate new ideas and information, and these information flows can have both positive and negative effects.

  • Well-functioning energy networks may appear stable, but actually, they are quite fragile: there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes to give the illusion of stability.

Nodes

Nodes play an important role in providing stability—keeping things the same—as well as innovating. In Chap. 3, I analysed the role of nodes within energy innovation. Nodes are stable points on networks, points of intersection. In three case studies, I focused on very different types of smart grid social and technical node: the digital electricity meter, an energy sector organisation (the Australian Energy Market Operator), and an island.

Thinking about energy sector components and organisations as nodes is a more static conceptualisation compared with a network conceptualisation. Whereas the network metaphor encourages us to think about flows, the idea of nodes instead focuses our attention on the organisations, people, and technologies that provide anchor points, and often act as key brokers at significant junctions within processes of energy innovation. In the case of the digital electricity meter, nodes are technologies at the intersection of households and the grid. Nodes are also organisations that play important roles in running the energy sector (the national regulators and rule setters) and in international energy research and knowledge dissemination (e.g., the International Smart Grid Action Network), as well as standard setting (e.g., the International Electrotechnical Commission). Households can also usefully be thought of as nodes; central actors who not only consume energy but also increasingly generate it from rooftop solar and store it in household batteries. Nodes can also be influential individuals, such as entrepreneurial brokers who innovate in technology and/or policy.

The concept of nodes is useful because it enables us to concentrate our analysis on the critical components of energy innovation and better understand the work these components do—whether they are social or technical—in keeping things the same and innovating. A focus on nodes also helps us understand what happens when things go wrong, as it is often that a key node has broken down or is no longer working in the way it used to.

Some key learnings about energy innovation from the study of nodes are:

  • Nodes have a strong influence over energy innovation because of their role in managing and co-ordinating flows in networks, and hence are worthy of attention.

  • Nodes typically have what is termed interpretative flexibility, that is, they are understood differently by different actors. This flexibility is generally seen as a strength allowing them to function.

  • Attempts are often made to replicate successful nodes elsewhere, in different contexts, but this does not always work because the things and people they are co-ordinating are different.

  • Because nodes are embedded within their networks, they are the product of flows within those networks. Nodes are therefore less adept at recognising and driving change outside of the network in which they are situated, that is, in effecting more radical innovation. When nodes are positioned at the intersection of different networks (e.g., policy networks), they are particularly active and influential.

Narratives

The study of narratives is important in helping us to simplify and make sense of innovations, including in the energy sector. In Chap. 4, I analysed three examples of narratives about smart grids: a global industry narrative about households and their willingness to participate in smart grids; a narrative of policy failure about a particular smart grid project in the State of Victoria, Australia; and the narratives that currently compete with smart grids in Australia, including the hydrogen economy and off-grid energy futures.

Social research tells us that we understand and make sense of the world through stories. From studies of scientists in their labs to ethnographies of government and corporations, narratives have been found to underpin, structure, and give meaning to the work that we do (Czarniawska, 2004). It is no different for the energy sector, where stories circulate about successes and failures, about particular technologies and policy experiments. Narratives are a way of simplifying the messiness of innovation and change processes and making them more readily understandable, distilling the main points. But through this simplification, narratives can also be dangerous: the need for a coherent story means that significant details are often left out. So, for example, a story about a smart grid project failure has no room in it for the successes of that project, as it detracts from the narrative.

Narratives are particularly important in situations of newness, ambiguity and uncertainty (Hajer, 1995). These are characteristic of much contemporary energy sector innovation, which involves lots of new technologies and new modes of operation. This innovation is occurring within a sector where there has not been significant change for several decades in terms of the principal mode of electricity generation, distribution, and consumption. So, paying attention to narratives, as well as to their silences and gaps—what has been left out—is one way to develop a better understanding of societal responses to energy innovation.

Some key learnings about energy innovation from the study of narratives are:

  • All narratives have particular framings of the policy problem and, therefore, its solutions.

  • Within every narrative, there are silences—things that are left out—sometimes deliberately and sometimes accidentally and these are worth noticing.

  • Some narratives become very popular because they are a good strategic fit, and organisations with vested interests drive the narrative, but there may actually be little evidence to substantiate the narrative (e.g., the willing prosumer narrative in Australia).

  • Learning from energy sector failure is more difficult than learning from success because there is much less information circulating about failures.

Nostalgia

Nostalgia is a focus on and longing for the past and past ways of doing things—a sentimental feeling that it would be nice if things were as they were previously. In Chap. 5, I looked at how nostalgia can hamper efforts at energy innovation, both in terms of how it blinds us to change already under way and how memories of things and ways of doing can encourage or hinder innovation. I drew on three diverse case studies: memories of pioneering international smart grid experiments and their present-day effect; data about off-grid households in Australia; and nostalgia for big infrastructure energy solutions in Australia.

Applying ideas about nostalgia to energy innovation might seem rather odd at first glance. However, it is useful in showing us how certain ways of doing and particular expectations are still focused on the past rather than thinking about the future of the energy sector. Focus on the past creates a situation where new areas of innovation and change are not paid as much regard as they could be. New ways of doing are simply not on the radar, as contemporary systems and organisations continue to do things the way they have always done them. For instance, data is not being collected on households leaving the electricity grid in Australia because this has not happened much in the past, so contemporary data collection systems do not recognise off-grid households.

Some key learnings about energy innovation from the study of nostalgia are:

  • The past has influence in all sorts of ways in energy, not just in terms of the technical legacy of infrastructure, but also cultural and emotional attachments to ways of seeing things and what is judged to be important.

  • The influence of nostalgia affects what problems are identified and the types of solutions proposed.

  • Nostalgia helps explain why many innovations are not initially seen or made visible and why there might be a reluctance to engage with them, for example leading to situations of scarce data.

Reflection: Understanding Energy Innovation Through Integrating the Social

There has been lots of attention to energy sector innovation in recent years. The energy sector is grappling with a range of problems, from climate change to increased consumer-led investment in distributed energy resources, to the opportunities afforded by new digital technologies and data. Terms such as energy transition and roadmaps are in frequent use world-wide (Clean Energy Council, 2015; South Korean Government, 2019). There are many possible pathways ahead. We are likely to see increased diversity in forms of energy provision around the world, as different choices are made about energy futures beyond centralised fossil fuel provision. These changes are complex. However, one certain feature is that energy sector innovation will continue to comprise a mix of the social and the technical. Seemingly technical decisions about transmission lines and renewable energy zones have social, political, and cultural dimensions at their core. Social domains such as household preferences and habits are heavily influenced by technology, for example, how much the technology meets their needs, how easy it is to understand, and how reliable it is in its function.

To take one example from the book, the case study of international policy networks of smart grid innovation comprising entrepreneurs, companies, governments, smart grid projects, and technologies (see Case Study 2.1, Chap. 2). Smart grids are a global phenomenon, and I demonstrate how these international networks affect what happens on the ground in any place something smart is happening with the grid. The effect of smart grid projects being monitored globally through these networks is worth paying attention to because it is influential in determining energy innovation processes. Whatever the type of energy innovation, wherever it is, there is a huge amount of effort that goes into making it appear to be successful, as this grants a place on the international stage to the people involved and their locality. But, as we well know, not everything works in attempts at energy innovation. Every project needs smoothing over and attention; this type of smoothing over often comes at the expense of wider learning from mistakes.

International policy networks are just one example of how developing a better understanding of energy innovation necessitates paying attention to both the social and the technical elements of innovation and their many twists and turns. Smart grids provide a good illustration of how interwoven the social and the technical are. At first glance, smart grids are a straightforward technical solution to a number of pressing energy sector policy problems. In reality, smart grids are as much social as they are technical. It is my hope that Understanding Energy Innovation convincingly shows this to be the case.