The technopolitics of energy transitions: Materiality, expertise, and fixed capital in Japan’s power grid disputes

Abstract

This article examines recent controversies in Japan surrounding access to the power grid by renewable energy producers to think through the possibilities of a political ecology of socio-technical systems. Beginning in summer 2016, regional power utilities across Japan began denying applications from renewable energy producers seeking access to the grid because it was “at capacity.” Questions about what constituted “capacity,” how and by whom capacity was determined, and what energy sources were given preferential access to the grid were significant topics of contention among renewables developers, solar advocates, power utility administrators, and central government bureaucrats. On days with excess sun or wind and low power demand, renewables producers have also been denied access to maintain grid stability. Bringing together literature on the material politics of socio-technical systems and the political economy of electric power, this article examines the grid as a networked infrastructure with its own intrinsic materiality that shapes the trajectories of renewable energy transitions. It draws on interviews with central government policymakers, utility representatives, and renewables advocates to argue that regional grid operators appeal to technical constraints to restrict the amount of renewable energy on the power grid and safeguard fixed capital investments in nuclear power. It highlights the role of expertise and counter-expertise in these disputes and calls for greater attention to how the materiality of the power grid shapes the political dynamics of renewable energy transitions.