Power to the people? : civic engagement with small-scale hydroelectric plants in India

The importance of renewable energy technologies is increasingly recognized. It is generally assumed that renewable energy technologies are unproblematic due to their small-scale and their green and clean image. But how are these technologies actually working on the ground? In my dissertation I studied forms, contents and consequences of civic engagement with small-scale hydroelectric plants in India. I show that the social acceptance of renewable energy technologies is not straightforward, despite their benign image and their small scale. Providing power to people has as much to do with electricity as it has with social and contextual issues