The Governance of Sector Coupling: Socio-Technical and Political Challenges of Maintaining Energy Transitions

Abstract

The exnovation of fossil and nuclear technologies and their replacement by renewable energies – especially wind and solar power – is the core target of the transition towards a sustainable energy system. However, empirical experience from many countries show that the pure installation of new wind and solar parks will not be sufficient for such a transition. Whereas taking into consideration a limited success in the electricity sector, a transition of the transport and heating sectors has hardly taken place. This raises the question of appropriate technologies and governance strategies for a “second phase” of energy transitions that goes beyond the expansion of renewable energy. In the academic discourse on the energy transition, sector coupling (dominantly understood as an electrification of the energy sector through an interconnection of electricity, heating & cooling, and transport & mobility) became one of the key topics recently. Whereas the technological options and possible tools seem quite clear (immediate use of electricity to provide heat and mobility; development of storage media; production and treatment of hydrogen and synthetic fuels), sector coupling confronts the social and political world with specific challenges. The panel discusses the general steps to enhance the capacities of the energy system towards sector coupling, the necessary modifications and adjustments to be made, and the challenges of policy integration that arise by an integration of different socio-technical spheres. Against this background, we will deal with crucial barriers and significant attainments. We focus on empirical as well as theoretical aspects. Topics include: • Factors that support or constrain sector coupling • Policy processes and policy integration • Institutional and behavioral aspects of sector coupling as well as path dependencies • Case studies and comparisons of energy systems where the issue of sector coupling comes to the fore • Analysis of power structures and actor constellations.