Disruptive power : How distributed energy resources shape organizations and value logics in the future of electricity systems

The electricity sector faces its largest transformation since its beginning about a century ago. Combinations of ageing electricity networks, removal of fossil supply sources and electrification of industry and transport sectors require vast efforts at all levels of society. Increasing renewable supply and demand sources means the growth of distributed energy resources. This thesis explores what this transformation means for society; how it affects the traditional actors and “new” active users in the energy system. Traditional actors include electrical utilities and distribution system operators; the “new” actors include different types of prosumers such as property companies and communities. In addition, the thesis investigates the nature of the energy transition towards an increasingly decentralized organization with the ultimate goal of increasing understanding of the potential values, organizational demands, institutional setup, and role changes required for this transformation. To investigate this, the thesis departs from theories of sustainable transition and applies analytical frameworks to different local energy systems cases, specifically small-scale solar PV plants and microgrids. The chosen empirical areas are motivated both by the recent growth in these technologies and that their features enable a complete decentralized energy system configuration, which is interesting as an extreme case in energy transition. Findings are presented in four different articles. One conclusion is that values from distributed energy resources go beyond what the current centralized system is able to provide. Both traditional as well as “new” actors can benefit from these values, although it requires an understanding and endorsement of alternative “value logics” stemming from prosumer-oriented configurations. Further, the findings show the relation between values, engagement, and evolvement of roles and responsibilities for local energy systems. These can be utilized by policymakers who desire to expand the renewable energy sector and, at the same time, increase incentives for users to actively engage in the energy system. However, the findings also show deep lock-ins in current centralized structures, both organizationally and institutionally, which need to be managed to realize the full potential of distributed energy resources. The thesis does, however, contribute with examples of proactive cases which can be utilized to learn from and create abilities among actors to transform along the decentralized energy transition pathway