Governing the GB digital energy revolution to support net zero by 2050

Abstract

Energy systems worldwide are being shaped by the confluence of four major sociotechnical trends: decarbonisation, digitalisation, decentralisation, and democratisation. In Great Britain’s (GB) energy policy sphere, digitalisation is now routinely positioned as an essential and automatic enabler of decarbonisation that will underpin the sector’s transition to net zero by 2050. Using qualitative empirical techniques, based on two phases of expert interviews and workshops, this PhD thesis critically investigates GB energy system governance and institutional change in the context of a digitally facilitated net zero transition.

Empirical data collection and analysis within the thesis present strong evidence that governance challenges emerging from GB energy system digitalisation are multifaceted and interlinked. They are found to span five key challenge areas: data and algorithms, digital publics, incumbent organisations, energy markets, and disjointed digital development. Analysis further establishes four areas of institutional change which offer potential avenues for policymakers and industry to respond to identified governance challenges. These areas span both formal and informal types of institutional change associated with standardisation, regulation, coordination, and exploration.

Analysis of overarching themes from the empirical data collected for this PhD generates the key finding that GB energy system digitalisation is not guaranteed to support an equitable transition to net zero without active development of governance mechanisms to steer, assess and enforce this outcome. Accordingly, three recommendations are made to target priority areas of institutional change that can strengthen the digitalisation-decarbonisation relationship, producing higher levels of confidence in the enabling role of GB energy system digitalisation for an equitable transition to net zero by 2050.