ABSTRACT

While energy transition processes are embedded in locally and regionally specific institutions, infrastructures and natural environments challenges remain in identifying the institutions that matter for renewable energy deployment, how they work and how they influence energy transition at the regional level. The paper discusses the institutional configurations, discernible by looking at the influence that the socio-material forms of energy exert on energy infrastructure, and its governance. It is argued that the socio-material dimensions of renewable energy are useful to emphasise the institutions that matter for renewable energy deployment and can shed light on the capacity of regional governments to steer renewable energy transitions. By adopting a comparative case study approach, the paper stresses the way in which the normative and cultural contexts of the regions under-consideration have influenced and modulated the effects of national regulatory schemes on renewable energy deployment. While similar institutional settings have worked in different ways across the regions investigated, the approach adopted is helpful in emphasising the relational and multi-scalar character of institutions and their effect on the regional capacity, and capability, to act in renewable energy deployment.

摘要

尽管能源过渡过程已嵌入本地和区域特定机构中，但基础架构和自然环境仍面临挑战，这些问题是确定对可再生能源部署至关重要的机构，它们的工作方式以及它们如何影响区域一级的能源过渡。本文讨论了制度配置，可以通过观察能源的社会物质形式对能源基础设施及其治理的影响来识别。有人认为，可再生能源的社会物质层面有助于强调对可再生能源部署至关重要的机构，并且可以揭示区域政府指导可再生能源转型的能力。通过采用比较案例研究方法，本文强调了考虑中地区的规范和文化背景如何影响和调节国家监管计划对可再生能源部署的影响。尽管类似的机构环境在所调查的区域中以不同的方式起作用，但采用的方法有助于强调机构的关系和多尺度特征及其对区域能力和能力的影响，以发挥可再生能源的作用。