Established in 2007, the SuperSmart Grid Team has experienced incremental evolution in its scope and area of interest. From the very beginning we have focused our work on two broad and closely interconnected questions: whether actors in Europe seek to achieve 100% renewables (possibly in cooperation with North Africa) (energy acceptance block) and how, Europe, alone or in cooperation with others, can achieve the infrastructure necessary to generate and integrate 100% renewables (policy block).

Recently we concentrate on issues related to the societal acceptance of energy infrastructure development and “the need” definition regarding such projects. Our main focus is the enhancement of stakeholder participation in energy infrastructure projects with the aim to improve the decision-making process. To achieve not only academic results we cooperate with a broad range of stakeholders, including business, NGOs, academia and politics.

As a strongly interdisciplinary team we are also involved in researching a broader range of topics connected to the energy sector: social forms of market designs, governance of energy technologies, energy security aspects of the energy transition, more sustainable and social welfare indicators, the importance of discourse in shaping energy solutions, stakeholders-based knowledge production, the business-state relations and the EU’s climate and energy policies (especially the framework till 2030 and the idea of the Energy Union).

Focused around these issues, our research is problem-driven and strongly transdisciplinary, at the intersection of political science, policy analysis, international relations, sociology, public management, engineering and economics, rather than being rooted in one research discipline alone. This means that the research we conduct addresses a wide range of issues, drawing on methods from different disciplines and contributing to the corresponding theories. In this sense, our research approach matches the changing role of science in society, where scientific results are more and more expected to be directly applicable – in our case policy relevant.

Team:

Antonella Battaglini

Saskia Ellenbeck

Andreas Beneking

Andrzej Ceglarz

Associated:

Peter Schmidt

Jon Lilley

Publications

Projects (ongoing and finished)