Fostering technologies for sustainability: improving strategic niche management as a guide for action using a case study of wind power in Australia
Creators: name: Healey, Gerard
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024

description: Society is making increasing efforts to become more sustainable by fostering new technologies such as renewable energy. Often, there are significant challenges to introducing new technologies because existing infrastructure, institutions, social groupings, and behaviours have co-evolved with and consequently support incumbent technologies - a condition known as lock-in.<br><br>To support efforts to introduce new technologies, researchers have developed conceptual frameworks that aim to increase our understanding of socio-technical change. One promising framework is Strategic Niche Management (SNM); however despite its strength as an ex post analytical tool, SNM has yet to be used to guide experiments with new technologies. <br><br>This thesis aims to make SNM more usable for those introducing new technologies by responding to four weaknesses identified in existing literature: a weak link between the conceptual framework and action, the vague role of actors, an inadequate appreciation of issues of consensus and limits of influence, and an inadequate appreciation of the challenges that actors may face. This is achieved by identifying promising insights and testing them on a case study of wind power in Australia. <br><br>The literature review identifies dynamics that have been linked to positive feedbacks in the development of new technologies and socio-technical change. These are: stimulating demand, increasing use, learning and articulation, increasing functionality, decreasing costs, decreasing uncertainty, embedding and alignment, increasing legitimacy, attracting actors, and strengthening expectations and visions. These dynamics can be used to provide a better link between theory and action. The review also identifies particular actor roles - such as niche manager, macro actor, prime mover, and dedicated network builder - and actions that actors in these roles may take. These roles and actions are linked to the dynamics. Also reviewed are issues related to consensus and limits of influence; a particularly useful concept in this regard is resource interdependency. Finally, the review identifies challenges to encouraging the dynamics aimed at helping actors to anticipate problems in the introduction of new technologies. T he relevance of this approach and applicability of these insights are tested with a case study of wind power in Australia. <br><br>The case study explains changes related to grid-connected wind power in Australia between about 1997 and 2007. There was significant socio-technical change: for example, installed grid-connected wind farm capacity grew from about 1 MW to almost 900 MW, an industry and industry association formed, there were unprecedented changes in energy policy, new high-level actor groups formed to oversee the grid-integration of wind power, Governments amended planning schemes, and public opinion was increasingly articulated. <br><br>The dynamics identified in the literature review were all relevant to wind power. The study provides examples of the actors that can encourage these dynamics and how they might do so. Most challenges identified in the literature review were relevant to wind power and possible strategies for managing them were identified. Also revealed were challenges in transitional strategies, legitimacy of the technology and consensus. These findings are discussed in detail. These findings are intended to help actors foster technologies for sustainability.