Geography

Fragmented authorities, institutional misalignments, and challenges to renewable energy transition: A case study of wind power curtailment in China

Document Type

Article

Abstract

To date, challenges to renewable energy transition have been discussed largely based on the cases and experiences from the Global North. In this paper, we aim at broadening our understanding of this specific socio-technical transition by incorporating the case of wind power development in China. Based on the analysis of policy and legal documents, we examine how institutions are organized and incentives are distributed among relevant stakeholders. We argue that China's significant wind curtailment problem has been produced and exacerbated by multiple axes of institutional misalignments stemming from China's fragmented energy bureaucracy. Through the study of the Chinese approach to renewable energy transition, our goal is to demonstrate the institutional plurality of socio-technical transition and the context specificity of its challenges.

Publication Title

Energy Research and Social Science

Publication Date

7-2018

Volume

41

First Page

71

Last Page

79

ISSN

2214-6296

DOI

10.1016/j.erss.2018.04.021

Keywords

fragmented authoritarianism, institutional misalignments, socio-technical transition, wind power curtailment

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