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The sociotechnical transition to renewable energy:

A case study of the Shetland Interconnector

Fiona Munro, PhD Student, School of Interdisciplinary Studies, University of Glasgow Supervisors: Prof. Joseph Murphy and Prof. Paul Younger

In Introduction

• This paper combines scholarship around sociotechnical transitions

and resource peripheries.

• Presents empirical data from case study of the proposed Shetland

Interconnector.

• This is the second case study of three for my thesis to examine the

renewable energy transition in Scotland for the electricity sector:

• production
• transmission
• storage

• To understand societal

shifts in the use of various technologies over time and the linked transformations in society such as in infrastructure, knowledge, and ways of life.

• Importance of geography

has been neglected with a focus rather on the temporal aspects of transition.

Sociotechnical Transitions

Multi-level perspective dynamics (Source: Geels 2002, p.1263)

Diagram of the Electricity Sociotechnical System (Source: Geels et al. 2015, p.7)

Friedmann (1966) argued that core-peripheries develop following a four- stage growth model:

(1) initial towns/regions develop fairly independently; (2) then a town/region begins to dominate, attracting disproportionally larger investment and migration; (3) semi-peripheries develop characterized by smaller cores that begin to develop; and lastly (4) all areas develop to be dependent on each other where capital and people flow between them.

Resource Periphery ry

Core Semi-periphery Periphery

Resource Periphery ry

Brown et al. (2000)’s table of key differences between cores and peripheries (Source: Brown et al. 2000, p.9)

• Importance of geography

has been neglected with a focus rather on the temporal aspects of transition.

• Resource peripheries

research illuminates power dynamics within geographical space with a focus on relations and dynamics between peripheries and cores.

• Murphy and Smith

(2013) have started connecting these concepts and this research builds on this.

Combined Approach

The sociotechnical transition and resource-periphery perspectives (Source: Murphy & Smith 2013, p.696)

Methods

• Fieldwork Jan-Feb 2015
• Semi-structured interviews
• Directly
• Additional around policy and industry

Source: Source: http://birdsofbritain.co.uk/photos/features/shetland-map.gif

Context xt

• Scotland has a large amount of

renewable energy largely located in rural and remote regions.

• Some has been developed and

contributes to the increasing amount of energy from low carbon sources in the UK, aiding in the UK reaching its GHG targets.

• Both positive and negative impacts for

communities as these areas are transformed by these developments.

• Creates complex relationships and

interactions.

Renewable energy generation trends by country (Source: DECC 2013, p.56)

Context xt

• Large amounts of infrastructure are

required to transfer this energy from the rural areas (generation) to cores (consumption).

• Transmission line developments and

upgrades currently planned.

• A ‘re-wiring of Scotland’ is taking place.

(Source: The Scottish Government 2013b, p.89)

(Source: The Scottish Government 2013, p.89)

Proposed Shetland In Interconnector

• Shetland Islands are located 209km (130 miles) north of the

British mainland.

• Plans for a subsea high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable

interconnector between Shetland (from the Moray Coast) and the UK mainland (Caithness).

• Estimated to cost £600 million and be able to carry 600MW.
• Completion date scheduled for December 2018.
• Responsibility of the grid operator, Scottish Hydro Electric

Transmission Ltd (SHET) which is part of Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE).

• SHET’s purpose:

to ensure there is sufficient network capacity for those within it seeking to generate electricity from renewable and other sources across a diverse, challenging and remote geographical region (Scottish and Southern Energy 2013, p.1)

(Source: The Scottish Government 2013, p.89)

• Shetland’s renewable energy development has been

constrained because of the lack of ability to export its electricity. Shetland is a constraint by definition because it’s on its

• wn and until it’s connected to the mainland then it is

constrained in a sort of global sense in that it is constrained by its own boundaries. (08)

Shetland - Constrained

For the whole of HIE it’s [renewable energy development] one of the main priorities but for Shetland…what we can actually do in this arena we are struggling at the moment other than supporting very small scale community renewable projects but even that is challenging because of the grid constraints. (06)

Highlands and Is Islands Enterprise (H (HIE)

On the mainland where it is all sort of interconnected because the system can cope with those small generation changes across the whole of the UK’s load. But then in Shetland it is quite unique because it is this whole balance between the load and the generation and the regulatory requirements to keep that stable for the customers so it has to be managed very tightly so it’s almost like a microclimate or micro network. (08)

Balancing the Grid

• Shetland Islands Council’s ‘Renewable Energy Development in

Shetland: Strategy and Action Plan’(2009); Preparatory work can be undertaken now to prepare Shetland for the

• pportunities that could be created by an interconnector. The

interconnector proposed is being constructed to support one specific

• project. However, it is widely anticipated that there will be capacity

for additional generation within Shetland. It is considered important that Shetland clearly states the nature of additional development that it may want to secure so that it can prioritise the different

• pportunities that could present themselves if the interconnector is

constructed, and have the ability to sift out those that do not fit with long-term development plans. (p.9)

Shetland Is Islands Council

• Proposed 370MW (103 turbines) central

mainland of Shetland.

• By utility company SSE (50% stake) and

Shetland community through the Shetland Charitable Trust (45% stake).

• Viking Wind Farm Project is linked with the

proposed Shetland-UK mainland grid interconnector project because the wind farm would produce more electricity than Shetland requires.

• Shetland electricity demand ranges from

roughly 11MW up to 48MW.

Viking Wind Farm

Map of the Viking Wind Farm proposed sites for wind turbines on the Central mainland of Shetland (Source: Viking Energy n.d.)

The idea was, if this is going to be done to Shetland then let’s try and get what we can out of it, let’s try and do it ourselves. (05) That is one of its problems, is the scale, but the scale is required, you can’t have the one [interconnector] without the other [Viking wind farm] unfortunately. (05) It [size] is to justify the interconnector cable, not necessarily because the landscape can accommodate that. This is the number of turbines they require to make the interconnector viable. (04)

Viking Wind Farm

The government has not made a decision yet if they will help build the interconnector or not or where the money’s going to come from. (06) There will be opportunities to develop renewable energy projects ‘off-grid’ but the attractiveness of Shetland as a location for investment is diminished without a grid connection. (Shetland Islands Council 2009, p.6)

Future Pathways- Uncertainty

• The processes that take place in resource peripheries during

sociotechnical transitions can be characterized by highly complex transition-periphery dynamics.

• Therefore, this combined approach of sociotechnical transitions and

core-periphery dynamics is particularly useful for understanding new resource peripheries and associated sociotechnical transitions.

• By better understanding these dynamics and relationships during

transitions the renewable energy transition can be better informed to deal with possible implications and ensure possible benefits are secured for a more sustainable future.

Conclusion

• Brown, F., Hall, D. D., & Hall, D. R. (2000). Tourism in Peripheral Areas: Case Studies. Channel View

Publications.

• Copus, A. K. (2001). From core-periphery to polycentric development: Concepts of spatial and aspatial
• peripherality. European Planning Studies, 9(4), 539–552.
• DECC. (2013). UK Renewable Energy Roadmap Update 2013. London.
• Friedmann, J. (1966). Regional Development Policy: A Case Study of Venezuela (Vol. 5). Cambridge: MIT

press.

• Geels, F. W. (2002). Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration processes: a multi-level

perspective and a case-study. Research Policy, 31(8-9), 1257–1274.

• Geels, F., Mcmeekin, A., & Hodson, M. (2015). PATHWAYS project. Exploring transition pathways to

sustainable, low carbon societies.

• Murphy, J., & Smith, A. (2013). Understanding transition – periphery dynamics: Renewable energy in the

Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Environment and Planning A, 45, 691–709.

• Shetland Islands Council. (2009). Renewable Energy Development in Shetland: Strategy and Action Plan.
• The Scottish Government, 2013. Planning Scotland’s Seas – Sectoral Marine Plans for Offshore Wind, Wave

and Tidal Energy in Scottish Waters Consultation Draft.

• Viking Energy, The Project. Available at: http://www.vikingenergy.co.uk/the-project [Accessed March 10,

2015].

References

The socio iotechnical transit itio ion to renewable energy: A case study of the Shetland Interconnector

Supervisors: Prof. Joseph Murphy and Prof. Paul Younger Lord Kelvin & Adam Smith Funding, University of Glasgow Contact: f.munro.1@research.gla.ac.uk Thank You!