Variegated capitalism, territoriality and the renewable energy transition: the case of the offshore wind industry in the Northeastern USA

Abstract

Abstract Uneven development and the territoriality of renewable energy resources complicate prevailing theories of regional energy transitions. This article proposes a framework for the study of regional energy transitions informed by theories of variegated capitalism and geographical scholarship on the materiality and territoriality of energy. We make the case for this framework by demonstrating that the development of offshore wind energy in the Northeastern USA has been hindered by the (in)action of the US federal government, which can be explained in part by the economic importance of natural gas extraction in the underdeveloped, yet politically influential region of Northern Appalachia.