CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2019
| Author | Vinichenko, Vadim |
|---|---|
| Title | Mechanisms of Energy Transitions: National Cases and the Worldwide Uptake of Wind and Solar Power |
| Summary | An increase in the use of renewable energy is an important part of a global energy transition, essential for reducing the risk of climate change. The existing global scenarios of energy transitions poorly account for economic, social, and political circumstances of individual countries. Yet a global transition can only be achieved as sum of national transitions. This thesis contributes to an understanding of energy transitions that is both nationally differentiated and globally relevant, empirically grounded, and integrates insights from relevant social science disciplines. The thesis is a conceptualization of national energy transitions as an outcome of recurring causal mechanisms within and across co-evolving systems of energy flows and markets, energy technologies, and energy policies. The thesis uses insights from techno-economic, socio-technical, and political perspectives on energy transitions to identify generic transition mechanisms and validates and refines these mechanisms, also demonstrating their explanatory power through a three-stage empirical research. The first stage is a comparative case study of energy transitions in Germany and Japan, explaining differences between the two countries in terms of causal mechanisms and their interactions. This explanation contrasts and improves on the majority of single-factor explanations in the existing literature. At the second stage, the thesis analyses early phases of wind and solar power adoption in 12 countries with diverse socio-economic circumstances, focusing on the “formative phase” mechanisms. At the third stage, the thesis analyses the introduction of wind and solar power in 60 largest electricity producers worldwide. Methodological contributions of this thesis include using the “takeoff year” when the combined share of solar and wind power first exceeds 1% of electricity supply as the dependent variable and using event history analysis for explaining global takeoff sequence. As a novel application of the mechanisms-based approach, it compares the strengths of different mechanisms across countries in terms of capacities, motivations, and interactions of state and non-state actors involved in energy transition mechanisms. The findings of this thesis include an exceptional role of the European Union, effective governance associated with the OECD membership, high-income status, and large size of economies in low- and middle-income countries. It observes that major energy exports in non-OECD countries hinder their capacity to introduce renewables. In addition to explaining national differences, the thesis identifies a regular global pattern of renewable energy adoption, something that can be used in constructing more informative and realistic decarbonization pathways and scenarios. |
| Supervisor | Cherp, Aleh |
| Department | Environment Sciences and Policy PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2019/vinichenko_vadim.pdf |
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