Who Beats the Dutch Tax Department? Tracing 20 Years of Niche–Regime Interactions on Collective Solar PV Production in The Netherlands

Abstract

In the past years, Dutch citizens have experimented with various kinds of innovations to organize the collective production of renewable energy, including shared wind power and solar PV installations. Most of these attempts failed mainly due to legal issues and tax rules. Yet, one model for solar PV on collective roofs was implemented more widely, namely the postcode rose (PCR, postcoderoos): a form of cooperative solar PV production within a set of adjacent postcode areas. Set within a broader transition perspective, this article studies the emergence and evolution of the PCR as an example of a successful social innovation in the energy transition, through an innovation biography and mapping of the evolution of the social and institutional network around the innovation. The various attempts for collective solar PV, with different degrees of success and uptake into the regime, present a key aspect of niche development, namely associational work (circulation and mobilization) focused on regime change. In conclusion, the innovation path of the PCR emphasizes the importance of the political and associational in the energy transition and in transition thinking.

Social Innovation and the Energy Transition

“…This special issue contains research from authors from all over the world. Insights are shared from Lebanon [45], Poland [46], India [47], Japan [48], Croatia, Spain [49], the UK [50,51], Portugal [52], and The Netherlands [53][54][55][56][57] leading to new perspectives on how social innovation is perceived in globally dispersed countries. Other contributions cover studies comprising of multiple countries like selected Member States within the European Union [58][59][60], countries within the OECD [61], or the European Union as an entity itself [62].…”

“…Article contributions to this special issue came from a wide set of academic disciplines from the behavioral and social sciences, like law [49,62], psychology [46,50,51,56], sociology [45,53], governance and policy studies [54,57,59], economics [48,60,63], econometrics [61], anthropology [47,52], ethics [56], geography [55,64], and environmental sciences [58].…”

“…Kooij et al [55] study new policy instrument to support community energy, and analyze how they play out on niche-regime interaction concerning renewable energy project development by grassroots energy initiatives. Like TSI theorists [26,30,36] the authors focus on social innovation and address its implications from the perspective of niche development, engaging with regime system forces.…”

“…In the light of national governments providing increasingly less incentives and support schemes to support renewable energy projects it was suggested by Gabaldón-Estevan et al to analyze the effects of this policy development on the resilience of REScoops and citizens vis-à-vis the efforts they make to foster energy transition like the adoption of renewable energy technology and renewable energy project development [49]. More empirical research is also needed to elaborate the intermediaries typology in support of renewable energy cooperatives, as coined by Warbroek et al [57], and to conduct more research into policies that empower and support grassroots initiatives that have the desire to develop renewable energy projects (derived from the article by Kooij et al [55]).…”

Modernization of Russian district heating systems with the help of biomass energy – A Gordian knot?

“…Therefore, drawing clear divisions between 'regime' and 'niche' playersfor example by classifying regional energy companies into either groupis often too simplistic. Overemphasizing the role of one component, be it individual actors, technical innovations, or restriction posed by the regime, makes the socio-technical energy system seem like a monolithic entity, which fails to represent the local realities (30)(31)(32). Secondly, the theory on carbon lock-ins has been criticized for overemphasizing dependence on technology and thus leading to defeatist and general scenarios that are too detached from the local level (32)(33)(34)(35).…”