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

224 Chapter 8
The applicability of the multi-level perspective for all cases also is an
indication of its weakness. Two basic aspects form the lack of specification
how and which landscape changes impact regimes and how coupling with
niches take place. The model presented in this thesis aims to fill this void as
it conceptualises the impact of landscape development on regimes through a
translation of the four broader institutional arrangements in which regimes
are embedded. If this translation synchronises between several societal
substructure, impacts are likely to be high, if this does not occur outcomes
will be more diffuse. Moreover, the nature of the shaping of alternative paths
also co-evolves with the changes in these broader institutional arrangements,
shaping alternative configurations with new functionalities such as its green
profile and supported by emerging new institutional arrangements. The main
point is that new concepts do not emerge solely in the context of regimes,
but also in the context of changes that transcend individual regimes.
Revisiting this thesis’ model
In chapter one, the overall research question asked about the nature of the
interaction between institutional and technological change and the way this
impacts the dynamics in the electricity system. An initial answer to this
puzzle was given in chapter three where a conceptual model was introduced
regarding the way sociotechnical systems are embedded in broader society,
see figure 8.1. Success and failure of paths was expected to be based upon
the way these paths connect with institutional arrangements of the electricity
system and broader societal substructures, as earlier indicated in this chapter
in Table 8.2.
The case of decentralised cogeneration can be used as an illustration. In
chapter five it was shown how the promise of the alternative practice was
promoted from societal circles, how knowledge regarding the practice was
accumulated and spread, how broader industry became more and more
involved, how policy support was developed, and the way rules were
adapted to facilitate its fit with the existing system. The success was thus
based on co-evolution of the practice with changing broader institutional
arrangements and changes within the electricity sector’s institutional
arrangements (all lastpin elements in the central station electricity system
were affected by the uptake of decentral cogeneration and had to adapt).