{"title":"The global yet local nature of energy imaginaries: The cases of Dutch and Spanish hydrogen valleys","authors":"Paul Upham, Ms. Paula Cruells Maristany","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104028","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Hydrogen valleys are envisaged (imagined), integrated industrial systems, where hydrogen is produced, stored, and utilized. Here we show how hydrogen valleys as sociotechnical imaginaries are differentiated in terms of their specific configurations, but homogenous in terms of reflecting the interests of large industrial fossil fuel suppliers and consumers. This path dependence is anticipated in sociotechnical transitions theory, which emphasises the power of incumbents with vested interests to maintain basic templates or regimes of production and consumption. The simultaneously heterogeneous and homogenous nature of hydrogen valley imaginaries can be thought of as a form of glocalisation, for which we draw on Roudometof's theory of glocalisation as involving the local refraction of diffusing, global tendencies. To illustrate this, we compare two hydrogen valleys, one in the north of the Netherlands and one in southern Spain. In the north Netherlands, the hydrogen valley imaginary comprises use of offshore windpower to electrolyse hydrogen for transport fuel, and as feedstock to heavy industry in proximate regions, including northern Germany and Belgium. This is consistent with existing gas distribution networks connecting industrial consumers. In the southern Spanish case, the imaginary positions Spain as a major exporter of green hydrogen to the rest of Europe via onshore renewable electrolysis, with export including via ocean tankers and chemical refining in existing infrastructure in Rotterdam. Overall the study explores empirically theoretically-informed themes concerning the interrelationship of mutually supportive local and global imaginaries – hence our term <em>glocalised</em> imaginaries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"123 ","pages":"Article 104028"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Energy Research & Social Science","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629625001094","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Hydrogen valleys are envisaged (imagined), integrated industrial systems, where hydrogen is produced, stored, and utilized. Here we show how hydrogen valleys as sociotechnical imaginaries are differentiated in terms of their specific configurations, but homogenous in terms of reflecting the interests of large industrial fossil fuel suppliers and consumers. This path dependence is anticipated in sociotechnical transitions theory, which emphasises the power of incumbents with vested interests to maintain basic templates or regimes of production and consumption. The simultaneously heterogeneous and homogenous nature of hydrogen valley imaginaries can be thought of as a form of glocalisation, for which we draw on Roudometof's theory of glocalisation as involving the local refraction of diffusing, global tendencies. To illustrate this, we compare two hydrogen valleys, one in the north of the Netherlands and one in southern Spain. In the north Netherlands, the hydrogen valley imaginary comprises use of offshore windpower to electrolyse hydrogen for transport fuel, and as feedstock to heavy industry in proximate regions, including northern Germany and Belgium. This is consistent with existing gas distribution networks connecting industrial consumers. In the southern Spanish case, the imaginary positions Spain as a major exporter of green hydrogen to the rest of Europe via onshore renewable electrolysis, with export including via ocean tankers and chemical refining in existing infrastructure in Rotterdam. Overall the study explores empirically theoretically-informed themes concerning the interrelationship of mutually supportive local and global imaginaries – hence our term glocalised imaginaries.
期刊介绍:
Energy Research & Social Science (ERSS) is a peer-reviewed international journal that publishes original research and review articles examining the relationship between energy systems and society. ERSS covers a range of topics revolving around the intersection of energy technologies, fuels, and resources on one side and social processes and influences - including communities of energy users, people affected by energy production, social institutions, customs, traditions, behaviors, and policies - on the other. Put another way, ERSS investigates the social system surrounding energy technology and hardware. ERSS is relevant for energy practitioners, researchers interested in the social aspects of energy production or use, and policymakers.
Energy Research & Social Science (ERSS) provides an interdisciplinary forum to discuss how social and technical issues related to energy production and consumption interact. Energy production, distribution, and consumption all have both technical and human components, and the latter involves the human causes and consequences of energy-related activities and processes as well as social structures that shape how people interact with energy systems. Energy analysis, therefore, needs to look beyond the dimensions of technology and economics to include these social and human elements.