Raphael Sauter

Technological innovation systems for microgeneration in the UK and Germany - a functional analysis

This paper examines the deployment of microgeneration in Germany and the UK from a technological innovation systems (TIS) perspective. Based on the TIS functions approach, we condense supportive and obstructive factors and discuss the differences in the respective national setting for small-scale renewable and combined heat and power (CHP) technologies. The findings underline the relevance of legitimation and of institutional and financial support. High degrees of legitimacy were achieved in both the UK and Germany. In Germany, early institutional and financial support reduced uncertainty for new market entrants and consumers, and fuelled a self-reinforcing diffusion dynamic for small renewables. In the UK, by comparison, microgeneration enjoys little support. The paper concludes that distributed generation will not be successful without a more focussed and technology-oriented innovation policy.

Distributed Generation: Transforming the Electricity Network

An increased share of distributed electricity generation could contribute substantially to lower carbon emissions, simultaneously improving energy security. Despite increasing interest in distributed generation (DG) its deployment has been slow so far in many industrialised countries, with some notable exceptions such as Denmark and the Netherlands. In most industrialised countries DG is seen, at best, as a complement to frameworks of centralised electricity generation. Low growth rates for DG are the consequence. This chapter argues that substantially increasing the share of DG requires a fundamental change in how we conceive the electricity system, guided by a more encompassing ‘system transformation’ perspective that recognises DG as a real alternative to centralised electricity generation. This perspective draws attention to necessary changes in the electricity infrastructure, including its technical and institutional components. The electricity network is one important part of the electricity infrastructure, and is the focus in this chapter.

Socio-technical implications of domestic microgeneration technologies in the UK electricity system

New technologies will play a crucial role in the transition to a sustainable energy system and a low or zero carbon economy more widely. Microgeneration technologies are one potential contributor to a sustainable energy system. From a Large Technical System (LTS) perspective, this paper explores the systemic challenges to increase the share of decentralised domestic microgeneration technologies in a system that has technically, institutionally and economically been characterised by a centralised approach to power provision. It argues that critical issues are linked to the institutional framework that inhibits the deployment of available technologies while technical issues are of lower importance at this stage. In the UK context, this paper analyses the extent to which existing policies and regulations address these issues, and more fundamental regulatory changes are outlined.

Microgeneration in the UK and Germany from a Technological Innovation Systems Perspective

Microgeneration, the production of electricity at the level of individual buildings or small local communities, has recently enjoyed increasing attention from politicians and energy analysts. A more decentralized or distributed electricity generation system could contribute to a transition towards a more sustainable energy system. Compared to the traditional electricity system based on fossil fuels and nuclear energy, microgeneration can in many circumstances reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions when it replaces fossil fuels by renewable fuels, and also by increasing total efficiency through the combined generation of heat and power in small cogeneration units. In addition, generation of power close to the point of use could reduce power transport over long distances and thereby increase the overall efficiency of the electricity system and reliability of power supply. Finally, microgeneration can increase consumers’ choice about their energy provision and potentially improve overall competition (Pehnt et al. 2006).

Energy policy implications

Over 20 years ago UN Commission on Environment and Development called on governments around the world to make sustainable development their first priority. The ‘Brundtland Report’ provided a definition still regularly quoted in policy documents committing governments to the aim. Sustainable development is: [D]evelopment that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains within it two concepts: the concept of ‘needs’, in particular the essential needs of the world’s poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organisation on the environment’s ability to meet present and future needs. (WCED, 1987: 43) The opening sentence above has become very familiar, but the two clarifying points that follow are rarely included. Sustainable development is now interpreted in diverse ways in various national and international contexts, often such that the detail presents little challenge to the status quo. For example, in the UK it has been interpreted as a domestic ‘quality of life’ agenda, or as a matter of ‘balancing’ economic, social and environmental protection goals in policymaking.

Conclusions: transitions, governance and appraisal

Around the world energy policy is becoming more politically heated. An interrelated set of factors explains this: new scientific findings about climate change and its likely consequences; rising energy prices; controversy about nuclear ambitions; fears about the security of fossil fuel supplies relating to short-term geopolitical instabilities; rapid demand growth in countries such as China and India; the prospect of declining total world oil production, and its consequences for fossil fuel prices and energy security in coming decades; and international tensions around all of these issues.