The Role of Experiments and Demonstration Projects in Efforts of Upscaling: An Analysis of Two Projects Attempting to Reconfigure Production and Consumption in Energy and Mobility

Abstract

There is a multitude of experimentation, pilot and demonstration projects across Europe aiming to reconfigure energy consumption and production systems. Demo-projects and experiments have been recognized as important instruments to implement sustainability transitions in practice. Transition scholars have done much to clarify how we should understand experiments and pilot projects, focusing on involved actors, what is learned, and how the knowledge is used. In this paper we study two pilot project and discuss their qualities as sites that bundle new systemic properties, technologies, regulations, business models and user practices in new ways. We discuss these cases as new configurations with promising transformative implications. The two cases studied are a Norwegian and an Austrian smart grid demonstration. Both cases represent companies that have transformed their relation to and participation in the transport system as an outcome of pilot projects and experiments. The study analyses the complexity of factors influencing the effectiveness and success of these reconfigurations in providing destabilization and change within until now relatively stable regimes.

Systematic Literature Review on Smart Mobility: A Framework for Future “Quantitative” Developments

“…The fifth cluster sustainable planning for quality services refers widely to the concept of the smart grid (Hall et al 2019; Khayrullina, Blinov, and Borzenko 2019; Monteiro et al 2019; Ryghaug et al 2019) as a set of information and electricity distribution networks for efficient and sustainable urban mobility planning.…”

New directions for RIS studies and policies in the face of grand societal challenges

“…Further, in 2009 the regional parliament of Vorarlberg set the strategic goal of achieving regional energy autonomy by 2050 (Amt der Vorarlberger Landesregierung 2015, 2020). Thus, VLOTTE was soon included in the region's ambitious goals in the energy field (Ryghaug et al 2019). Consideration of the 'mobility-energy nexus' became apparent in VLOTTE's core objective, that is, to enhance low-emission and low-carbon mobility fed by regionally produced renewable energy.…”

“…With the upscaling of the challengeoriented initiative, the set of actors was further growing (e.g. more business owners and restaurants were enlisted to enable the supply of charging stations to their employees and customers) (Ryghaug et al 2019).…”

“…Illwerke vkw and the Energy Institute met up regularly (Martin 2018). The strong connection between Illwerke vkw and the regional government is considered a particularly relevant factor in the success of the VLOTTE project (Ryghaug et al 2019). In other words: pre-existing links facilitated the formation of challenge-oriented innovation networks and alignment of activities to funding opportunities.…”

Catering for Socio-technical Transformations: Rethinking Technology Policy for Inclusive Transformation

“…Here, a key mechanism for the EU's goal to diversify and strengthen energy options for sustainable transport is through the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan that sets out to increase energy efficiency and speed up the decarbonization of the transport sector, mainly by boosting research and innovation. Two key actions are put forward for this: (1) Action 7becoming competitive in the global battery sector to drive e-mobility forward; and, (2) Action 8-strengthening market take-up of renewable fuels needed for sustainable transport solutions (European Commission 2017; Ryghaug et al 2019). Hence, the goals are purely technological, with the social world being reduced to "market uptake".…”