Ronan Bolton

Urban Infrastructure Dynamics: Market Regulation and the Shaping of District Energy in UK Cities

This paper explores the interaction between urban-scale energy infrastructure and the regulatory regime which underpins the liberalisation of energy systems. Using the example of district energy in a number of UK cities, we outline the ways in which the structure of national electricity markets and the activities of the energy regulator influence and shape the development of low-carbon infrastructure in cities. We draw upon recent contributions to the sociotechnical systems literature which highlights the role of cities in shaping infrastructure transitions and argue that the influence of sector regulation has been underrepresented and underexplored. Our study points to significant tensions and misalignments between a regulatory regime designed to promote economic efficiencies in incumbent national infrastructure sectors and the development of district energy systems at the urban scale. We propose that regulation needs to evolve from its traditional emphasis on promoting competition and short-term efficiencies towards a more dynamic model which is open to alternative logics and low-carbon transition pathways.

Governing Infrastructure Networks For A Low Carbon Economy: Co-Evolution Of Technologies And Institutions In Uk Electricity Distribution Networks

This paper analyses efforts to promote innovation in the UK energy networks sector. Using a case study approach, we chart the co-evolution between technologies and institutions in electricity distribution networks since the introduction of privatization and market liberalization over twenty years ago. It is observed that as a result of macro level institutional dynamics, innovation has become an increasingly important policy and regulatory goal. However, efforts to promote radical and architectural innovation, such as the transition to a smart grid, face significant barriers at the firm and sector levels. It is argued that changes are required to the formal and informal institutions which govern the sector in order to promote a more coherent relationship between technological and institutional change, leading to a productive innovation system which allows firms to collaborate across the electricity value chain and develop inter-firm/cross sector innovation partnerships.

Energy transitions and uncertainty: Creating low carbon investment opportunities in the UK electricity sector

This paper examines how actors in the UK electricity sector are attempting to deliver investment in low carbon generation. Low carbon technologies, because of their relative immaturity, capital intensity and low operational costs, do not readily fit with existing electricity markets and investment templates which were designed for fossil fuel based energy. We analyse key electricity market and infrastructure policies in the UK and highlight how these are aimed at making low carbon technologies ‘investable’ by reducing uncertainty, managing investment risks and repositioning actors within the electricity socio-technical ‘regime’. We argue that our study can inform contemporary debates on the politics and governance of sustainability transitions by empirically investigating the agency of incumbent regime actors in the face of uncertainty and by offering critical insights on the role of markets and finance in shaping socio-technical change.

Infrastructure, Investment and the Low Carbon Transition

Infrastructures have a key role to play in the delivery of energy services in a sustainable and reliable manner. Infrastructure investment however presents a challenge because distributing the costs and benefits of investing in and maintaining a reliable energy system is not straightforward. There are a number of important issues which need to be addressed such as the allocation of risk between investors and energy customers and the degree to which today’s customers should pay for an energy system which will be enjoyed by customers long into the future. A number of solutions have been adopted throughout the years; for example, during the period of nationalised infrastructures in the UK, costs and risks were socialised as part of centrally planned public investment programmes. The subsequent restructuring of the energy sector saw private investors being exposed to market signals and the associated risk of making bad investments.

Crossing Borders: Social Sciences and Humanities Perspectives on European Energy Systems Integration

Our chapter brings together four Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) scholars into a conversation about their research and policy engagements, working within History, Political Science, Sociology, and Science and Technology Studies. We develop a socio-technical perspective and turn that into a conceptual tool pack, to interrogate and explore the emerging concept of Energy Systems Integration (ESI) with a special interest in European energy integration. Our contributions include, first, advancing the concepts of socio-technical energy system and seamless web for our research topics. Second, we open up select frameworks for ESI using the socio-technical perspective and highlight very different interpretations of systems integration terminologies and their effects. Third, the chapter explores of how the production of scale matters greatly for integrated energy systems, from a variety of infrastructural scales to urban, national, and supranational scales. The chapter rounds up by suggesting ideas for future interdisciplinary research between SSH researchers and designers of more integrated energy systems.