Deregulation and Deregulated Electricity Sectors in Central Europe and Scandinavia from 1970 to the present

Speaker:

Gregory Ferguson-Cradler

Postdoc, CET and Geography, UiB

Abstract:

This talk will outline a recently commenced research project on comparative political economies of electricity in Central and Northern Europe. It examines the varied paths (at national as well as trans- and sub-national levels) taken since the shift to deregulated, competitive economies in electricity from the 1990s on, looking at continuities and discontinuities across periods, ways in which long-established patterns and institutions have determined or influenced the organization of deregulated sectors, and differing patterns of ownership and (corporate) governance. In addition to political economy, the project also explores how language and linguistic patterns around electricity have changed and the extent to which the ways that various actors conceptualize and frame the topic of electricity has varied across time and place. In a broader perspective, the project is ultimately aimed at the larger question of how and why some models have been better able to innovate, ramp up, and integrate renewables than others.