The Linkage between Renewable Energy and Project Management: What Do We Already Know, and What Are the Future Directions of Research?

Abstract

Although the development and the implementation of Renewable Energy (RE) solutions are crucial for the transformation of countries towards sustainability, Project Management (PM) may help companies to introduce these solutions, although no study analyzes and synthetizes previous research on the interplay between PM and RE. The article aims to fill this gap by presenting an analysis of publications that address the analyzed issue and are indexed in the Scopus database. The article utilizes bibliometric analysis, network analyses, and in-depth qualitative studies published before 2023. The first method examines research productivity in the context of authors, institutions, and designations. The second method examines the authors’ and keywords’ networks. The third is more comprehensive and focuses on contributions to both project management and the technological domain provided by articles, which constitute H (Hirsch)-Core in this research field. Based on the bibliometric analysis, it can be concluded that the scientific structure of the “project management–renewable energy” (PM-RE) field consists of 335 documents, which were published, in total, by 672 authors and in 135 journals. There are four keyword clusters, with blurred boundaries between them. In the PM area, organizational issues, focusing on project effectiveness, cooperation with stakeholders, and project evaluation methods were discussed. In the RE area, the main focus was on wind energy, technological issues, and the implementation of technologies in the end-to-end communication architecture for smart grids, photovoltaic systems, biomass projects, or the exploitation of geothermal resources. The article directly indicates the areas that should be addressed in future research. This study is the first literature review that explores the PM–RE research field. It provides knowledge that can be the subject of improving technologies and project management issues in the energy industry.