Innovation and institutional change: the transition to a sustainable ...

158 Chapter 5
add, not a sufficient condition for the sharp uptake in cogeneration in the
Netherlands.
The uptake of cogeneration has transformed the Dutch electricity system and
transformation of the Dutch electricity system has facilitated the uptake of
cogeneration. Thus, one major conclusion is that the rise of cogeneration
needs to be understood in the process of reorganisation of the electricity
sector, and especially in the light of diverging (and at certain times
competing) strategies in distribution and production companies. It is relevant
to stress this element of competition in the light of the foremost consensusoriented
transition policy that is currently undertaken. Another conclusion is
that the uptake of cogeneration is part of more broader process of societal
change that in the 1970s included the end of the idea of unlimited growth for
the progress of all, and involved a broader social movement against the
technocratic style of decision-making, especially reflected in the discussion
on nuclear energy in the 1970s where the establishment saw nuclear energy
as solution to the problem, whereas groups in civil society saw it as part of
the problem and advocated a different design of the electricity system.
Advocates of this different design, such as the Center for Energy Saving and
the Rethink Energy Policy Group 34 , played a central role as they advanced
these alternative ideas relative to the dominant thinking of the electricity
sector and government at that time, but also because they slowly became part
of the change process as they entered circles of decision making or catalysed
knowledge and consultancy centers regarding these alternative routes.
Processes of change are thus also people-related and dependent as also the
emergence of Winsemius shows and the changes in organisation and
routines he initiated in the department of Environmental Affairs.
Overall, the way the electricity system is embedded in society has
fundamentally changed. The reduction of legitimacy and credibility of the
central station electricity system has initially led to de-institutionalisation of
its linkages to wider fields in society. Instead a more demand-oriented
electricity system biased towards cogeneration gained legitimacy and was
supported by institutional changes. The process of liberalisation however has
set in motion diverging processes. On the one hand, a re-institutionalisation
of the central station electricity system has taken place at a cross-national
level as national electricity markets opened. This system is also deriving
legitimacy based on high expectations for integration of large-scale
renewable energy resources such as off-shore wind farms, co-combustion of
coal-fired power plants with biomass (Raven, 2005), and biomass based
power plants. Even the nuclear option might re-emerge in the light of the
Kyoto-protocol and long-term security of supply. On the other hand
34 In Dutch: Bezinningsgroep Energiebeleid.