Print Email Facebook Twitter Institutional reform and technological practice: The case of electricity Title Institutional reform and technological practice: The case of electricity Author Künneke, R.W. Faculty Technology, Policy and Management Department Economics of Infrastructures Date 2008-02-29 Abstract This article proposes a framework for categorizing possible interrelations between technological and institutional change and applies this framework to the case of the restructuring of the electricity sector. It is argued that there is a need for coherence between institutions and technological practice, so as to safeguard the satisfactory functioning of electricity infrastructure. The identification of possible incoherences between institutions and technological practice allows for a better understanding of the potential drivers for change and the evolutionary processes of which they may be part. This article attempts to elaborate the nature of this co-evolution in somewhat more detail, using specific levels of analysis that are exemplified in a four-level model. In the case of the restructuring of the electricity sector, the institutional framework has changed from a public utility-oriented, towards a market-oriented system. However, the technological practice remained unchanged: a system-oriented approach that relies on centralized planning, control and operation. This discrepancy between institutions and technological practice leads to significant frictions in the functioning of the electricity sector, but it also offers opportunities for innovation. In order to make liberalization a success, it might be necessary to stimulate certain technical developments (i.e. distributed generation and intelligent networks). Subject co-evolutiontechnological and institutional changerestructuringelectricity sector To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:29742bc5-b518-4e5d-b889-d79ea822b3eb DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtn002 Publisher Oxford University Press ISSN 1464-3650 Source Industrial and Corporate Change, 19 (6), 2010 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights (c) 2008 Künneke, R.W.; Oxford University Press on behalf of Associazione ICC Files PDF Kunneke-Institutional_reform.pdf 655.55 KB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:29742bc5-b518-4e5d-b889-d79ea822b3eb/datastream/OBJ/view