A socio-technical perspective to flexible design of energy infrastructure systems

Abstract

Systems engineering is the dominant approach for designing flexibility in infrastructure systems. However, the approach merely focuses on physical elements of the system as 'objects of design', whereas hardly any attention is given to the institutional structures (e.g. contracts) required to realize the system. In this paper, the conceptual gaps of systems engineering approach when it comes to infrastructure systems design is discussed. As a way to address these conceptual gaps a theoretical framework that integrates the technical/engineering perspective and the actor/institutional perspective is proposed. The framework promotes design procedures for integrating flexibility, not only in the technical elements of the system but also in the institutional structures.