Electrification : Accelerating the Energy Transition

Electrification: Accelerating the Energy Transition offers a widely applicable framework to delineate context-sensitive pathways by which this transition can be accelerated and lists the types of processes and structures that may hinder progress towards this goal. The framework draws insights from well-established literature, ranging from technological studies to socio-technical studies of energy transitions, on to strategic niche management approaches, (international) political economy approaches, and institutionalist literatures, while also adopting wider social theoretical ideas from structuration theory. Contributors discuss a multitude of case studies drawn from global examples of electrification projects.

Brief case studies and text boxes help users further understand this domain and the technological, infrastructural and societal structures that may exercise significant powers.

• Proposes a globally applicable, inclusive framework linking together several literatures of energy transition research (ranging from the social sciences to law and engineering)
• Assesses the regional and national applicability of solutions, covering the societal structures and interests that shape the prospects of their implementation
• Extends the analysis from technological and infrastructural solutions to the policies required to accelerate transition
• Introduces several country level case studies, thus demonstrating how to harness niches of innovation, kick-start the adoption of a solution, and make it mainstream

Pami Aalto is Jean Monnet Professor in International Relations at the Tampere University, Finland, and works at the interface of energy policy, international relations and international political economy as well as interdisciplinary studies in general, with particular interest in the Nordic countries, Europe, Russia and East Asia. During 2015-21 he leads EL-TRAN, a large-scale consortium of some 50 researchers working on the transition of the electric energy system to a more climate neutral direction in various engineering disciplines, law, politics and international relations as well as future studies, funded by the Strategic Research Council at the Academy of Finland. Alongside scholarly work, the consortium seeks to engage with the business, public administration and NGO sectors, in order to find solutions applicable to the ongoing energy transition. Since 2015, Aalto is Member of the International Advisory Board of Energy Policy.