A situated governmentality approach to energy transitions: technologies of power in German and Indian smart grid strategies

Q2 Social Sciences

Geographica Helvetica Pub Date : 2023-12-21 DOI:10.5194/gh-78-581-2023

Leonie Büttner, Lucas Barning

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Abstract. Around the world, smart grids are emerging as a universal tool to address a wide range of social and technical problems facing energy systems. Despite considerable research on these systems, the ways they differ in the local (re)production of power relations have so far been little discussed. This paper fills this gap by developing a “situated governmentality approach” in conversation with the critique of Foucauldian governmentality studies. By applying this approach to smart grid strategies in Germany (Smart Energy Showcases – Digital Agenda for the Energiewende, SINTEG) and India (National Smart Grid Mission, NSGM), we identify different ways in which power is mediated through situated governmentalities. While SINTEG employs technologies of power that promote a disciplinary regime, the exercise of power in the case of the NSGM displays many elements of a digitally enhanced sovereign approach. The findings reveal the range of governmental programmes that can be realized through smart grids and open up a perspective on the situated functioning of smart grids in energy transitions.

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能源转型中的政府情境方法：德国和印度智能电网战略中的权力技术

摘要在世界各地，智能电网正在成为解决能源系统所面临的各种社会和技术问题的通用工具。尽管对这些系统进行了大量研究，但迄今为止，人们很少讨论它们在地方权力关系（再）生产中的不同方式。本文结合福柯政府性研究的批判，提出了一种 "情景政府性方法"，从而填补了这一空白。通过将这一方法应用于德国（智能能源展示--能源数字化议程，SINTEG）和印度（国家智能电网任务，NSGM）的智能电网战略，我们发现了权力通过情景政府性进行中介的不同方式。SINTEG 采用了促进纪律制度的权力技术，而 NSGM 的权力行使则展示了数字增强主权方法的许多要素。研究结果揭示了可通过智能电网实现的政府计划的范围，并为智能电网在能源转型中的情景功能开辟了一个视角。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Geographica Helvetica Social Sciences-Anthropology

CiteScore

1.90

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

53 weeks

期刊介绍： Geographica Helvetica, the Swiss journal of geography, publishes contributions in all fields of geography as well as in related neighbouring disciplines. It is a multi-lingual journal, accepting articles in the three main Swiss languages, German, French, and Italian, as well as in English. It invites theoretical as well as empirical contributions. The journal welcomes contributions that specifically deal with empirical questions relating to Switzerland. The agenda of Geographica Helvetica is related to the specificity of Swiss geography as a meeting ground for different geographical traditions and languages (German, French, Italian and, more recently, a type of transnational, mainly English-speaking geography). The journal aims to become an ideal platform for the development of an informed, creative, and truly cosmopolitan geography. The journal will therefore provide space for cross-border theoretical debates around major thinkers – past and present – and the circulation of geographical ideas and concepts across Europe and beyond. The journal seeks to be a platform of debate also through innovative publication formats in its section "Interfaces", which publishes shorter interventions: reflection pieces on major thinkers as well as position papers (see manuscript types). Geographica Helvetica is promoted and supported by the following institutions: Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT), Geographic and Ethnological Society of Zurich/Geographisch-Ethnographische Gesellschaft Zürich (GEGZ), and Swiss Association of Geography/Association Suisse de Géographie (ASG).