Most policies for mitigating climate change are to date orchestrated top-down, yet have not been as effective as anticipated. Recently, non-state actors (NSAs) are being considered as complementary contributors to climate change mitigation, allowing for a more bottom-up, decentralized approach. NSAs, as the name suggests, are not affiliated with the government and can range from municipalities to corporations and NGOs. NSAs are increasingly joining climate agreements such as the Science-Based Targets initiatives (SBTi).. SBTi have the potential to decrease CO2 by 2.7 GtCO2e per year, in case at least 2000 companies join. However, as NSAs commit on a voluntary basis, their actions are non-enforceable; thereby creating uncertainty, as NSAs can be steered by different institutions on different levels. By studying three cases of SBTi committed food and beverage companies, the goal of this research is to unravel the institutional interrelations and complexities that influence the participation and commitment of these companies. We use the Institutional Network analysis (INA) approach that builds on the Institutional grammar. Our study of both formal and informal institutions and their interactions reveals that the main mechanisms steering members are socio-economic constructs, such as the pressure from the larger society that in turn affect a company’s reputation.

With the 2019 European Green Deal, the EU has set an ambitious roadmap to enable European citizens to benefit from a Green Transition. One of the main goal of the Green Deal is the deployment of renewable energy sources. Within these, solar power has been identified as the fastest growing
source. Within solar technologies, crystalline-silicon (c-Si) based account for a market share of 95%. Nevertheless, large-scale production of solar PVs encounters many challenges, due to the current solar industry design. Countries that aim at developing solar technology on a significant
scale, have to face China’s current market dominance. China is the largest producer, exporter, and installer of solar panels, on a worldwide scale. The final goal of the research is to evaluate if and how could China impede the competitiveness
or market expansion of Member States in the c-Si solar-tech industry. The main research question therefore is: What is China’s market dominance when compared to the European Union in the solar panels
global industry?
The analysis is structured by following the application of a novel Analytical Framework that takes into account all the significant factors that are able to influence the solar market dynamics. From the application of Analytical Framework to the EU-China case-study emerges the Market Dominance
Assessment, that analyses the actual market dominance of China, with respect to the European Union, in the commercialization of c-Si technologies.
Three are the main takeaways that can be drawn from the Market Dominance Assessment. Firstly, China, technically, controls over 80% of the worldwide c-Si solar market; each variable of the Analytical
Framework confirms the predominance of Chinese companies along the global solar supply chain, creating a situation where European parties cannot have access to those resources that allowed China to reach its current status. Secondly, the European Union is dependent on imports of Chinese c-Si panels, at the point that 90% of the current PV installations in the European territory come from China and few other Asian countries; at the same time, the EU is China’s number one trading partner. C-si panels trading, therefore, over years, created a situation of mutual dependency
among the two market parties, where the EU is dependent of Chinese export rates, while
China, to avoid over-supply, is dependent on European import rates. Thirdly, the best market strategy that Member States can apply is to accept and recognize the market dominance of China, and work to strengthen the domestic solar industry by tackling local weaknesses. As outlined in the policy options, the European Union, on my advice, should work, in the first place, towards the
implementation of a European electricity market. In conclusion, the European Union, therefore, remains highly dependent on Chinese c-Si panels, and this dependency is expected to rise in the coming years, due to future European plans to foster
solar energy. Anyhow, with the right policies and an adequate degree of investments in the solar industry, European countries will easily be able to reach the goals set in the European Green Deal.

To date, the field of research on hydrogen pipeline network integration is majorly limited to techno-economic supply chain optimizations and to socio-technical analyses on just the hydrogen transition in general. This article addresses this restricted view by exploring development of the pipeline network as part of the hydrogen value chain from a socio-technical perspective, taking into account multi-actor complexity. A three-level framework assesses the impact of the actor network regime on visions and on the design of the hydrogen value chain in three transition pathways that explore framework dynamics towards varying projected end-visions for the Netherlands in 2050. The actor perspectives show that the major concern in the development of the pipeline network is not necessarily related to the type of pipeline being operated, but rather to factors the ownership and operation, the transition strategy, the role of the network operator and industrial sector, and the capacity and outreach of the network. These aspects let observe influence on the extent of market expansion, security of supply, the pace of volume upscaling, the energetic and economic efficiency of the system and the level of fair competition in the network; the so-called lock-in effects. The research contributes to future pipeline network design by providing guidelines for general strategies and by showing what the key aspects are for strategically effective pipeline development as part of the value chain.

There is a pressing need for sustainable energy solutions in refugee camps. Community solar mini-grids, with their costs, reliability, and ease of installation can meet this energy need and contribute to the development and empowerment of camp residents. This research aims to answer the question of "To what extent can community-based governance approaches for solar mini-grids provide energy access in refugee camps?". A case study is conducted by applying the Institutional Analysis and Design (IAD) framework to understand the decision-making processes regarding energy provision in the Kigeme refugee camp. Desk research and expert interviews are conducted to understand the interactions between the actors, outcomes of policy decisions, and challenges of using solar mini-grids in displacement settings. The results show that giving the ownership of the system to refugee communities or a cooperative of camp residents is an ambitious goal due to political and institutional reasons. However, a sense of ownership can be created by using participatory activities during planning, design, implementation, and operation and maintenance of the system to increase the resilience of refugees and improve the sustainability of the system.

This thesis introduces an approach to support the long-term social acceptance of energy systems by addressing value conflicts embedded in regulatory and technical designs. When designing energy systems, the realisation of some values can conflict with the realisation of other values. The decision to deploy energy systems therefore inevitably entails a prioritisation of some values over others. Societal groups that do not agree with this prioritisation may decide to oppose or not to support the deployment and use of these systems. Lack of social acceptance may occur during the planning phase, but also at a later point in time as a result of value change. This can be caused by a growing mismatch between values prioritized in energy systems and how societal groups are affected. To support the social acceptance of energy systems, value conflicts embedded in energy systems need to be addressed. Methods to do so were however lacking. This thesis provides a methodological contribution by demonstrating how the literature on data science and the complexity sciences can be used to address value conflicts. This thesis answers the following research question: How can value conflicts embedded in energy systems be addressed in support of social acceptance?

We use probabilistic topic modelling to explore how the academic literature addresses value conflicts. Identified tactics can be used to specify design requirements and policy guidelines in support of the social acceptance of energy systems. Agent-based modelling is used to identify value conflicts embedded in energy systems that result from the heterogeneous properties of the affected population. Agent-based models provide insights about the type of population affected by value conflicts and hence about the severity of the resulting lack of social acceptance. This thesis contributes to the literature on social acceptance by demonstrating how long-term acceptance can be supported by drawing on insights from ethics of technology. Additionally, we provide a systematic and practical approach to integrate human values in the regulatory and technical design of infrastructures, which is critical for supporting the ongoing energy transition.

The Dutch government has announced that 7 million houses and 1 million buildings in the service sector need to be provided by sustainable heat in 2050 (Klimaatberaad, 2018b). This is an enormous challenge considering that over 90 percent of the houses and service sector buildings in the Netherlands are currently heated by the local combustion of natural gas (Hans Ariëns, 2018). The objective of this policy measure is in line with the European climate targets to mitigate the effect of climate change (Klimaatberaad, 2018a). Moreover, it helps to facilitate the Dutch policy to stop the natural gas extraction from the largest natural gas field in the Netherlands (Klimaatberaad, 2018a). To achieve the enormous objective in 2050, the Dutch government is choosing a gradual approach and formulated a first clear policy target for 2030. The CO2 emissions of the buildings induced by space heating and domestic water heating need to be reduced by 3,4 Mt compared to the 1990 levels (Klimaatberaad, 2018a). Sustainability measures in the service sector should lead to a reduction of 1 Mt and phasing out natural gas in 1.5 million houses in combination with insulation measures should cover the remainder of 2 Mt (Klimaatberaad, 2018a). To adequately meet the demand for space heating and domestic water heating in 2030 and beyond, alternative heating technologies need to be integrated in the energy infrastructures to provide the desired energy demand to the buildings. Natural gas is currently distributed by means of an extensive gas infrastructure. There is a potential to use the existing infrastructure to distribute and store sustainable gasses such as biomethane or hydrogen (Dodds & McDowall, 2013). Alternative energy infrastructures can also replace the natural gas infrastructure in the satisfaction of the energy demand. Possibilities are the electricity infrastructure and a district heating infrastructure. Energy can also be produced locally from renewable energy sources as biomass, geothermal energy, solar energy, and wind energy

Market-oriented electricity sector reforms have spread across the world in the last decades, with the aim to increase efficiency and stimulate investments. In many cases the outcomes of these reforms did not met up with expectations in terms of among others pricing, social welfare and efficiency. An often mentioned reason for these undesired outcomes is that the ‘content’ (the reform, the intervention), did not match the ‘context’ (of a country in which the reforms take place). Egypt is a developing country which adopted in 2015 the New Electricity law, that laid the legal foundation to restructure its electricity sector into a competitive one. The aim of this research is to investigate what the most suitable restructuring modality is for an efficient and reliable electricity sector in Egypt, given the institutional and political-economic context in which these reforms have to take place. The research question for this research is as follows: Which restructuring modality for Egypt’s market-oriented electricity sector reforms is the most suitable for an efficient and reliable electricity supply, considering the institutional and political-economic context? The majority of the countries that reformed their electricity sectors followed the ‘standard model’ which provided a sequence and steps for implementing these reforms, and became a global trend during the 1990s. This model has been defined differently by multiple authors, but roughly follows the same steps: corporatization, commercialization, requisite legislation, an independent regulator, sector restructuring, IPPs, divestiture of generation assets, divestiture of distribution assets, and competition (wholesale and retail markets). However, after 25 years since this model has been advocated, it has not been fully realized anywhere in Africa. Instead, different varieties emerged, often referred to as ‘hybrid power markets’; a market structure somewhere between the pre-reform structure and retail competition. Several authors and organizations made an attempt to categorize these different structures. For this research, five types of restructuring are distinguished; a vertically integrated monopoly, a vertically integrated monopoly with IPPs, unbundling with IPPs, a wholesale market, and a wholesale market with retail competition. Each with different advantages, disadvantages and pre-conditions. Many studies have been conducted on the reasons for the undesired outcomes of electricity sector reform in developing countries. Among others, it was not part of broader institutional reform, there was political instability, public opposition, or not enough regulatory capacity. Most reasons are contextual factors, which justifies the extensive contextual analysis of the case of Egypt. These reasons have been translated as criteria into a framework to assess which type of restructuring fits the best with a certain context. The earlier distinguished five restructuring modalities each have a different institutional set-up, role of the state and the private sector, and therefore pre-conditions to be met in order to successfully implement this particular structure. This framework can help practitioners to assess which of the five restructuring modalities fits the best in a certain country context. This framework has been developed with multiple assumptions since criterions are interrelated, not mutually exclusive or difficult to measure. A framework like this has not been made before, so there was no previous work to build on. The criteria have been operationalized and will for this research be applied on the case of Egypt. Now that the framework to assess the case of Egypt has been developed, the technical and political-economic context was assessed. The more technical contextual analysis provided an overview of Egypt’s electricity sector (its institutional structure, the value chain and an elaboration on the proposed reforms). After this a Political Economic Analysis has been done. These two analysis combined, together with information out of interviews with experts and stakeholders, the framework with the defined criteria has been applied on the case of Egypt. After the application of the framework on the case of Egypt, it became clear that crucial pre-conditions for a competitive wholesale market are not present in Egypt. These include among others, political commitment, regulatory independence, cost-reflective tariffs, public acceptance and a good investment climate. In the long run (>25 years), a wholesale market might be possible but for the short to medium term (as stipulated in the Electricity Law) this is too optimistic, due among others to the ‘cultural’ changes within the government that have to take place. Instead, the government should focus on improving the status quo; a legally unbundled and state dominated structure with IPPs, before ‘moving on’ to the next, more competitive, type of restructuring, being a wholesale market. Improving the status quo means in this case; continuation of the subsidy reform, and the IMF reform program in general, strengthening the independence and effectiveness of the regulator, and capacity building within the involved ministries and authorities. These measures, primarily focused on the second level of Williamson’s four layer model, will take time. Longer than the timeline of the reforms as outlined in the Electricity Law. This recommendation does not imply that a competitive wholesale market cannot work in Egypt. With 100 million customers and a population growth rate of 2% per year, there are ample opportunities for private parties to invest and operate in Egypt’s electricity market. But to push now for a competitive market without the necessary pre-conditions and transparency, will delay the process (as is currently happening) and creates uncertainty among all the stakeholders that are needed to make such a market work. The literature provided multiple examples of countries where market-oriented reforms happened too fast, with undesired outcomes as a result. Liberalization is not a goal in itself. It is merely a mean to achieve the overall goal of the Egyptian government: a reliable and efficient electricity supply. Strengthening the current structure with a focus on the pre-conditions needed for a competitive market, is for now, according to this research the mean to achieve this. Discussion and suggestion for future research The developed framework can be useful for policy makers and other practitioners in the field of electricity sector reform in developing countries, considering the large amount of vertically integrated utilities in Africa alone. This framework is however the first of its kind and open for improvement and especially extensive validation. Based on the results of the research suggestions for future research are: 1. The research done is from a qualitative nature. A quantitative/modelling approach to electricity sector reform in Egypt can be valuable as well. 2. Influence of intermittent sources and decentralized production on a suitable restructuring modality and the standard model. These issues were less urgent in the early 2000s when most literature about electricity sector in developing countries was written. 3. Development of an extensive sequencing and prioritization framework for Egypt’s electricity sector reforms. 4. A framework with weighted criteria to determine a suitable restructuring modality. 5. Operationalization of political commitment for electricity sector reform.

In a rapidly expanding offshore wind market, governments are evaluating their role in the support of the export of their domestic companies. This thesis looks at what roles governments utilize in the export domain of offshore wind. Four governmental roles are identified and their prevalence is rated in different stages of a novel representation of the export process. A framework of these roles and export stages is applied to the Dutch, Danish and German offshore wind sector by performing a comparative case study. The case studies are conducted using a combination of desk study and 26 expert interviews. The study finds a range of recommendations for the Dutch government to improve its promotion of exports in the Dutch sector. Additionally, the study finds a range of patterns of prevalences of governmental roles which are discussed. The instruments and roles utilized in the earlier stages of the export process are theorized to be more technology-related, the instruments and roles later in the export process are more generalizable for all export processes.

The Netherlands currently lacks a large scale aggregation system which can unlock decentralised flexibility to improve the reliability of the electricity grid in the presence of a significant amount of variable renewable energy sources. In this reserach, the aggregator blockchain technology is perceived as an enabler for a decentralised flexibility model. It is however uncertain how the implementation of both systems fit technically and institutionally in the environment of the Dutch electricity sector. This paper analyses implications of the aggregator and blockchain technology in unlocking decentralised flexibility by considering a system integration approach. Using the comprehensive design framework, a conceptualisation of system integration in energy infrastructures, many challenges regarding the aggregator and blockchain as flexibility model have been identified. Both systems have shown to have major implications that need to be overcome to ensure successful system integration.