There seems to be a growing consensus on the need for our societies and economies to go through a deep ‘energy transformation’ – moving away from fossil fuels and towards sustainable and renewable energy production in all sectors. Decarbonization that is the reduction of CO2 emissions up to the level of complete carbon neutrality in all four key aspects of the energy system (production, transmission, consumption and storage) is the most important rationale of that ‘revolution’.
While this change is seemingly on the technical level, the way energy systems are transformed already has and will increasingly have an impact on the societal and political level. Renewable energy sources have the potential to replace the existing conventional sources of energy. Their dispersed and decentralized nature puts more emphasis on scales of governance and the changing political economy of the energy sector. Renewables can empower the consumers (turning them into a new category – prosumers, producing and consuming energy produced locally) of electricity and leading to the democratization of the power system.
This new reality requires increased reflection on the possibilities, nature and limits of that ‘energy democracy’. What are the impacts of energy transformation on the society and on the political system, and what are the socio-political impediments for an energy transformation to take place? Does the participatory ideal behind ‘energy democracy’ increase or decrease governance effectiveness – and thus do we see a positive or negative feedback loop into the broader political process around climate change mitigation efforts? Finally, what kind of energy/society relations do we want to achieve as a result? Tapping into the ongoing policy debate on ‘energy democracy’, we try to conceptualize the societal aspects of energy transformation and renewable energy expansion. Departing from a conceptualization of energy policy that treats society not as the object but its subject, we put forth five levels of RES influence on society.
