• Energy Research

Abstract Digital twins have emerged as novel technology in the wind energy sector that enables the design, monitoring and prediction of wind turbine performance. Despite growing attention on their potential, little is known about how digital twins are designed, by whom and how their design choices affect multiple aspects of decision making in the development of wind energy. Using a framework of co-production, this paper examines digital twins as boundary objects and the role of twinning as boundary work that involves an active process of design and affects multiple aspects of decision making in the development of wind energy. Our results demonstrate how the design of digital twins evolves throughout the twinning process, affected by regulation, choices of expert twinners on data and models, and what constitutes a matter of concern. We shed light on the role of these twinners in influencing which actors and their matters of concern are included and excluded during the twinning process. Our understanding of twinning as an active process of governance by design more clearly reveals how digital twins are not objective representations of reality, but a function of boundary work. We conclude that more transparency is needed over how digital twins are designed to enhance their role as technologies that foster a transition towards more sustainable energy systems and decision-making over wind energy technologies and their integration in landscapes.

Wind power has an important role to play in tackling climate change. Key challenges in wind energy science and innovation must be overcome to increase the penetration and capability of this technology. However, the success of these efforts heavily depends on how society engages with the development of wind power infrastructure. Consequently, grand challenges exist in both technical and social domains, yet little research has made substantial efforts in connecting them. Here we review the social science and humanities literature on wind energy to illustrate the social dimensions of previously identified technical challenges. We suggest that a socio-technical lens enables an interdisciplinary approach to overcome the prevalent tendency of silo thinking in wind energy research and use it to explore socio-technical grand challenges related to the design, planning, development, operational and end-of-life phases of wind energy. Finally, we provide an outlook for research, practice and innovation, including an interdisciplinary and socio-technical research agenda for wind energy science, renewable energy developments and science policy in general.

Through a comparative analysis of technology management at the component level by wind turbine manufacturers from Europe and China, this article compares strategies of internalisation of core technology components by European and Chinese lead firms and outlines how different internalisation strategies impact the networks established by the two types of lead firms. Building on the concept of governance developed by the global value chain literature, the article identifies two different types of networks: European lead firms internalise core technology components and keep strong captive or relational ties with key component suppliers, whereas Chinese lead firms modularise and externalise core technology components, hence adopting a more flexible approach to technology management. The latter model mirrors a strategy of overcoming technological barriers by tapping into knowledge through global innovation networks. The article contributes to the network governance literature by introducing scales of component technology complexity and lead firm capabilities for understanding network constructs.

Decentralization of the electricity sector has mainly been studied in relation to its infrastructural aspect, particularly location and size of the generation units, and only recently more attention has been paid to the governance aspects. This article examines power sector (de)centralization operationalized along three functional dimensions: political, administrative and economic. We apply this framework to empirically assess the changes in California’s electricity market, which saw the emergence of institutional innovation in the form of community choice aggregation (CCA). Unpacking the Californian case illustrates how decision-making has moved from central state government and regulators to the municipal level in uneven ways and without decentralized generation keeping pace. We also explore the impacts this multidimensional and diversified decentralization has on the ultimate goals of energy transition: decarbonization and energy security. Our framework and empirical findings challenge the conventional view on decentralization and problematize the widespread assumptions of its positive influence on climate mitigation and grid stability.

In this paper, we explore bird-turbine relations, which are becoming a point of contention in controversies over local wind-farm projects. We conceptualize potential wind farms, together with the planning process preceding them, as a single ‘infrastructural arrangement’ that organizes how environments are known and affected by wind farms. Within the context of this infrastructural arrangement, we trace how two groups – opponents and developers of wind farms – discover birds as potential allies in defining specific bird-turbine relations that will help in either stopping or promoting wind farm projects. We observe two types of bird-turbine relations. In the first, which is present in current environmental regulations and is mobilized by wind farm opponents, birds are considered fragile and endangered by turbines. The second, proposed by a developer, problematizes current regulation through an alternative relationship of co-existence between birds and turbines, according to which birds are more robust and turbines less dangerous. This account of birdwatching leads us to discuss the many forms of politics that occur within or against the infrastructural arrangements of wind farm planning. We find that these politics have important consequences for whether or not wind farm projects are realized and for the way wind farms affect their surrounding environments.

Adverse impacts from wind turbine obstruction lights have received little attention in literature and practice with respect to community annoyance with wind energy and studies on the effects of mitigation measures are absent. Technology development has made demand-based obstruction lights possible, allowing lights to be turned on only when aircrafts are approaching. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of demand-based obstruction lights on community annoyance while considering the intervening effects from other influential factors. This is done by means of a before-after study of the installment of a demand-based obstruction light technology at a test center for wind turbines with a height up to 330 m in the northern part of Denmark. The results document that a radar-based obstruction light controlling system contributes to the reduction of community annoyance, but that annoyance is also influenced by several factors besides the direct impacts from obstruction lights. The results underscore the importance of communicating the effects of the radar system during the planning phase and when implemented. The findings thus provide important evidence that informs the efforts made by developers and authorities to reduce annoyance and increase community acceptance of wind turbines as part of the green transition of societies.

The aim of this paper is to provide a new perspective on the conditions for the multiple dimensions of concerns and to understand why some wind power projects run smoothly, while others lead to unexpected outcomes due to local resistance. The paper considers three Danish wind farm developments with different planning difficulties, from “smooth” to intensified resistance and conflicts between local communities and the planning authority. To better understand the different planning pathways, we use a research framework where social acceptance is viewed from a conflict management theory perspective, with a focus on the uniqueness and different dimensions of conflicts. The paper discusses how the framing of the planning system considers specific types of tangible concerns, while more intangible concerns are neglected, and how this leads to escalating conflicts. The paper is concluded with several policy recommendations on how to avoid conflicts and how authorities and politicians should reflect on their own agency in provoking conflicts, which can be avoided by proactively involving affected communities at early stages.