Transformation of electricity provision and its challenges for spatial policy

Abstract

This discussion piece argues for modifying the two central statements of the original article “Energy policy on all territorial levels” by László Csák, namely the decentralisation of electricity generation, and the integration of energy policy and spatial planning. Firstly, current tendencies go well beyond the expansion of renewable generation, but also involve scenarios contradicting decentralisation. The post-war, nation state model of electricity provision is more and more obviously challenged. The ongoing changes are not limited to generation, but also to the distribution and use of electricity, such as via potential uses in digital technology. In the very centre of these unfolding transformations are the changes in the geographic patterns of electricity generation and consumption. There are a number of scenarios, ranging from an extremely centralised extended European supergrid to a patchwork of household-level electricity systems.

Secondly, integrating energy policy and spatial planning is indeed key for the decentralisation of electricity provision on the local and regional level. The discussion piece outlines four potential forms of this kind of integration, namely electricity provision via urban municipal utilities; siting of power stations linked to the economic development of the area; multi-sectoral interventions in junction with, e.g., transport or housing; innovative urban developments explicitly driven by energy initiatives, from zero-carbon high-tech cities to ecological communes. This highlights that the transformation of electricity provision raises inherently political questions, it’s not just a technological shift.