Germany was the first major country to commit itself to an electricity system transition based on decentralized renewable sources and energy efficiency. This experiment has attracted interest worldwide, but its influence on national energy debates is largely unknown. We study how the German transition appeared in the news media of three countries following alternative nuclear pathways—the United Kingdom, Finland and Hungary—between 2011 and 2015. We show that most discussions are techno-economic, supply-oriented and focused on nuclear, wind and solar energy. Key issues such as energy democracy, regional development, participation, demand-side measures, and bioenergy are neglected. We find that topics are detached from their original contexts and selectively contextualized elsewhere, resulting in very different pictures of the same transition in specific countries and news sources. The ‘Energiewende’ has become part of the international energy policy landscape, but its representation depends on local visions of a good society.

德国是第一个致力于以分散式可再生资源和能源效率为基础的电力系统过渡的主要国家。这项实验已引起全世界的关注，但其在全国能源辩论中的影响却鲜为人知。我们研究了德国过渡如何在2011年至2015年之间沿着三种替代核途径-英国，芬兰和匈牙利-出现在三个国家的新闻媒体中。风能和太阳能。诸如能源民主，区域发展，参与，需求方措施和生物能源等关键问题被忽略了。我们发现主题与它们的原始上下文分离，并在其他地方有选择地进行了上下文化，导致在特定国家/地区和新闻来源中同一过渡的图片截然不同。“ Energiewende”已成为国际能源政策格局的一部分，但其代表取决于当地对良好社会的看法。