ENERGIX-Stort program energi

The starting point for the InGRID project is the observation that we are moving into a new phase of the energy transition. Whereas in the previous decade attention in both policy and research was concentrated on following emergence of singular, new renewable energy technologies (phase 1.0), we are currently witnessing that focus moves from individual energy technologies to the transformation of the wider energy system wherein multiple mature and immature, and renewable and fossil energy technologies compete or complement each other. In this phase 2.0 of the energy transition it becomes paramount for policy makers and analysts to understand the temporal complementarities between different technology choices in order to guide the transition while maintaining security of supply and minimizing cost (e.g. avoiding sunk investments). In this situation, the electricity grid appears the backbone of the system transformation because its properties strongly influence when, where, and which energy technologies can be deployed. A central aspect of phase 2.0 is that the share of fluctuating (i.e. non-dispatchable) renewable energy sources increases more and more. While integrating low shares fluctuating renewable energy sources often does not impact the operation and architecture of the overall power system (as was indicative of phase 1.0), larger shares can destabilize entire power systems. The task of balancing supply and demand in an increasingly renewable energy system is growing more and more complex as supply becomes less predictable. As a consequence, power systems need more flexibility. Such flexibility can be provided through various technical, regulatory, and institutional means. From the outset, the goal of InGRID was to focus on driver and barriers for enhanced transnational transmission grid capacity combined with traditional storage (e.g. hyrdro power) as one important source of power system flexibility. Indeed, transmission networks are undergoing changes including uptake of new technological innovations. InGRID researchers are analyzing several of these developments from an industry and technology perspective. However, energy integration via enhanced transnational transmission capacity as a source of flexibility is not uncontested. In fact, we observe that it is particularly challenged by the rise of autonomous decentralized energy systems and grids that, in its extreme version, implies transnational energy disintegration. We identify decentralization and energy integration as two distinct visions or pathways for decarbonizing the electricity sector that each is associated with particular sets of technologies, actors, and electricity market designs. InGRID researchers are analyzing which industrial actors and policy instruments are supporting which pathway in an attempt to unpack some of the politics of the energy transition. Related to these different pathways, InGRID researchers also investigate how ongoing discussions around a new energy market design in Germany, UK, and at the European level can be interpreted in terms of national solutions versus Pan-European solutions (i.e. energy integration). In this, particularly the discussions around capacity markets are relevant.

The InGRID project has had several important effects. InGRID research has helped open new perspectives on energy transition within the innovation studies discipline. In particularly by opening up ideas of studying whole system change where electricity grids are central. The work has produced new empirical insights on change patterns and mechanisms in electricity grids. The InGRID project has promoted competence building in young researchers, supported interdisciplinary research on energy issues, and opened up avenues for new research in all partner organizations. This has furthermore resulted in enhanced visibility in international research communities. The knowledge produced in the project is relevant and useful for several societal stakeholders. This was particularly visible in the final seminar of the project. We expect InGRID results to be taken up in and influence decision making in stakeholder organizations.

As Europe's energy transition moves towards increasingly higher shares of variable renewable energy, there is a growing need for conjointly transforming the electricity transmission grid, the backbone infrastructure of electricity supply. This transformation includes grid expansion, e.g. for connecting offshore wind parks or entire national grids, but also the development of new transmission technologies. For Norway, further European integration of power transmission is of particular importance for efficient use of the country's vast renewable energy sources and marketing them in the European electricity market, and thus for long-term value creation. It is widely agreed that transmission infrastructure policy, investment and transformation are significantly lagging behind changes in electricity supply across Europe, and that this tension between interdependent domains threatens to constrain the energy transition. Key challenges include coordination across different countries and actors, ill-aligned regulatory regimes, lack of industry competences and systemic uncertainties. To provide a better understanding of these particular challenges and the energy transition in general, the project applies a multi-disciplinary approach, combining analytical frameworks from innovation system and transition studies with concepts from political sciences and industry analyses. In fact, technological developments in the field of power transmission are confronted with national (Norway, UK, Germany) and European level studies on (transmission) policy regimes and in-depth analyses of industry actors. We will apply multiple methods, including case studies on selected transmission projects, patent analyses, social network analyses and policy field analyses.