Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation
 

Microgrids and the Transition Toward Decentralized Energy Systems in the United States: A Multi-Level Perspective

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  • The last decade has seen a drastic interest in microgrids throughout the world. Even though this trend might seem to be just another technological solution in the energy sector, it is a part of a greater transition from a centralized energy system to a more decentralized one. However, unlike most decentralized energy systems which are largely compliant within the current electricity system and utility model, microgrids tend to interact with the centralized grid infrastructure as a parallel, and oftentimes competitive, distribution grid model at the micro scale. Therefore, studying the adoption of microgrids presents an excellent opportunity to study socio-technical transitions in the energy system. In this context, this study aims to explore the drivers, contexts, processes, policies, institutions, and interactions that affect the adoption of microgrids in the United States. Using Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) framework as the overarching theoretical guide, the study relied on quantitative empirical analysis at the country-level as well as qualitative case study analysis at the state-level to comprehensively address the research objectives. For the latter, California and New York were selected as cases that have high microgrid adoption while Oregon was selected as a case with minimal adoption of microgrids. The analysis suggests that disasters act as a key landscape pressure for the adoption of microgrids in the United States. On the other hand, a dominant pro-environment attitude or the presence of energy choice laws in states do not affect the adoption of microgrids. The findings further illustrate that even though the electricity regimes in all three case study states are facing some destabilization due to landscape pressures, the regime stabilization mechanisms are much stronger in Oregon as compared to California and New York, making it harder for niche innovations like microgrids to break in. This is primarily due the availability of cheap, clean, and abundant electricity, and the electricity market structure which is closer to the traditional vertically-integrated monopoly model and limits the opportunities of entry and profit for third-party microgrid developers. Finally, the study also shows that the support for microgrids that the states of California and New York are providing in the form of funding and legislation is crucial. This is why, in the absence of this push from the state of Oregon, the gradual move to facilitate microgrids that seems to be happening is many other states is not apparent. By studying the adoption of microgrids as part of a socio-technical transition in the energy system, this study does not only contribute to the existing literature on the adoption of decentralized energy systems, but also adds to the literature on socio-technical transitions in the energy system by offering an account of why and how a decentralized energy system that challenges the centralized grid regime has made its place in the centralized grid regime in some US states, and what are the factors that have hindered such a shift in other states.
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  • Ongoing Research
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  • 2019-05-29 to 2021-06-30

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