TY - JOUR
T1 - A situated governmentality approach to energy transitions
T2 - technologies of power in German and Indian smart grid strategies
AU - Büttner, Leonie
AU - Barning, Lucas
N1 - Funding Information:
German energy policymakers have been discussing the digitalization of the energy system and pushing ahead with developing smart energy systems in cooperation with industry, business and research since 2008. During the first national funding programme E-Energy – ICT-based Energy System of the Future (2008–2013), new approaches in the energy system were tested in six model projects. The digitalization of the energy system was pursued further as part of the programme Smart Energy Showcases – Digital Agenda for the Energy Transition (SINTEG) (2016–2020), funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). Model solutions for the future energy supply were developed and tested on an experimental basis in large consortia in five model regions, so-called showcases. The challenges posed by the volatility of generation as a result of the increasing share of renewable energies in the German electricity market were highlighted. Due to the experimental approach, each project differed greatly in its objectives, the actors involved and the technologies used. Moreover, as experiments, they were not designed to be comprehensive and were largely discontinued after the funding period. Nevertheless, tendencies towards governmentality can be observed in connection with the SINTEG programme, which we examine in more detail below.
Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright:
PY - 2023/12/21
Y1 - 2023/12/21
N2 - Around the world, smart grids are emerging as a universal tool to address a wide range of social and technical problems facing energy systems. Despite considerable research on these systems, the ways they differ in the local (re)production of power relations have so far been little discussed. This paper fills this gap by developing a "situated governmentality approach"in conversation with the critique of Foucauldian governmentality studies. By applying this approach to smart grid strategies in Germany (Smart Energy Showcases - Digital Agenda for the Energiewende, SINTEG) and India (National Smart Grid Mission, NSGM), we identify different ways in which power is mediated through situated governmentalities. While SINTEG employs technologies of power that promote a disciplinary regime, the exercise of power in the case of the NSGM displays many elements of a digitally enhanced sovereign approach. The findings reveal the range of governmental programmes that can be realized through smart grids and open up a perspective on the situated functioning of smart grids in energy transitions.
AB - Around the world, smart grids are emerging as a universal tool to address a wide range of social and technical problems facing energy systems. Despite considerable research on these systems, the ways they differ in the local (re)production of power relations have so far been little discussed. This paper fills this gap by developing a "situated governmentality approach"in conversation with the critique of Foucauldian governmentality studies. By applying this approach to smart grid strategies in Germany (Smart Energy Showcases - Digital Agenda for the Energiewende, SINTEG) and India (National Smart Grid Mission, NSGM), we identify different ways in which power is mediated through situated governmentalities. While SINTEG employs technologies of power that promote a disciplinary regime, the exercise of power in the case of the NSGM displays many elements of a digitally enhanced sovereign approach. The findings reveal the range of governmental programmes that can be realized through smart grids and open up a perspective on the situated functioning of smart grids in energy transitions.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85183060924&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.5194/gh-78-581-2023
DO - 10.5194/gh-78-581-2023
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85183060924
SN - 0016-7312
VL - 78
SP - 581
EP - 592
JO - Geographica Helvetica
JF - Geographica Helvetica
IS - 4
ER -
