Blog

In this research project we will be looking at the way that renewable development processes actually play out on the ground, in the three regions of Karnataka (India), Brandenburg (Germany), and South Australia.

We are unpacking the dynamics of the socio-ecological relations of energy in these three regions. That means we are uncovering the social, political, financial and environmental forces that drive how and why renewable energy projects are developed in certain ways and in certain places – what issues are given importance and what issues are sidelined, who benefits and who loses out. We are also focusing on struggles around the social legitimacy of renewable energy development – the ways in which different people and groups determine for themselves (and also make claims for others) about whether particular developments (eg a new wind park or solar farm) are seen as ‘legitimate’ or not, and how that changes the actual process and outcomes of those developments.

The research team is widely varied, with chief and partner investigators from across five institutions, from multiple traditions, including ethnography, journalism, political economy, sociology, anthropology, South Asian studies, and ecological economics. We’ll be bringing a diversity of different lenses and perspectives with which to view the totality of the renewable development process. Many members of the team have worked on research projects together on related issues for over a decade. Most recently, several members of this research team participated in a project called ‘The Coal Rush and Beyond‘ – which looked at the contestations surrounding coal development in the same three countries (book forthcoming).

It is still relatively early days in the research process for the Decarbonisation project – we’ve chosen the regions of interest, we’re harmonising methodological approaches, we’ve done some scoping visits to get a broad understanding of the issues and terrain.

So naturally we don’t know what we’ll find and what issues will come out in the wash as being insightful to understand what is happening. But some dynamics seem to be catching our eye right now:

The role of various forms of land relations, finance, and ownership – how do these affect how a renewable project is perceived by various social forces? Are there differences between greenfield and brownfield sites? What are the effects on structurally landless and historically dispossessed communities?

The specificity of wind and solar as separate technological conglomerations with different resource needs and spatial requirements – how do the different biophysical needs of wind and solar projects interact with existing land uses and rent relations, such as variation in agricultural productivity and access to the commons?

The broader crisis of legitimacy in the existing political-economy – i.e. people’s disaffection with the general political and economic establishment, and whether that has a role in affecting renewable development. Also, does the process of renewable development have a role in changing the configuration of the political economy itself?

In terms of work accomplished on this project, we’ve collated a Special Issue on the Problems of Methods in Climate and Energy Research for the Energy Research & Social Science journal and organised a 2 day research workshop “Advocacy for Energy Transitions – Mapping the Dynamics” on South Australia for the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (journal special issue forthcoming).

Throughout the course of this project we will all be contributing different kinds of material to this blog. There will be discussions of field visits we’ve undergone in India, Germany and Australia; theoretical musings on questions of social legitimacy; discussions of the politics of energy in these contexts; analysis of different types of renewable policies and their effects; reflections on questions of methodology in renewable energy ethnography; summaries of journal articles we’ve written – and many other different kinds of pieces as we move through this process.

So stay tuned and watch this space!