Exploring incumbents’ agency: Institutional work by grid operators in decentralized energy innovations

• Published in: Environmental innovation and societal transitions Vol. 37; pp. 79 - 92
• Main Authors: Galeano Galvan, Maria, Cuppen, Eefje, Taanman, Mattijs
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.12.2020
• Subjects: Decentralized energy innovations; Embedded agency; Energy transition; Grid operators; Incumbents; Institutional work; TSO; Grid operators; DSOs; Energy transition; GOs; Decentralized energy innovations; Embedded agency; Incumbents; Institutional work
• ISSN: 2210-4224; 2210-4232
• DOI: 10.1016/j.eist.2020.07.008

•Grid operators have been active in the energy transition through the development of decentralized energy innovations.•Their public mandate, broad access to the grid and markets, and regulatory misalignment motivate their (embedded) agency.•They perform all three types of institutional work and use the same practices for diverse purposes.•They use their agency for institutional change through the creation of niches and boundary spanning.•They are both object and subject of institutional work in a distributed, collective process of institutional change. The agency of incumbents has gained increasing attention in the study of transitions. Recent studies show that besides being inert and resistant to change, incumbents can also support transitions. We focus on the agency of a particular type of incumbent, grid operators. In several countries, these actors play an active role in institutional change in the energy domain. At the same time, they are engaging in activities to maintain the regime. This paper examines the actions of grid operators when performing institutional work, i.e. when creating, maintaining and disrupting institutions. We conducted a qualitative content analysis of Dutch media to analyze the actions of grid operators while engaging with decentralized energy innovations. We conclude that grid operators are both subject and object of institutional work as part of a distributed, collective process of institutional change. Furthermore, our analysis reflects on their paradoxical position as embedded actors engaging in institutional change.