Upscaling sustainable energy technology: From demonstration to transformation
Bart Bossink, Marlous Blankesteijn, Sandra Hasanefendic
Abstract
Sustainable energy demonstrations are settings where the authorities cooperate with academia and commercial firms to understand, test, and improve new sustainable energy technologies before they can be scaled up. The transition from fossil to sustainable energy depends on these demonstrations' effectiveness. Yet, there is a lack of knowledge of organizing and accelerating the move from demonstrations to industry-wide transformation regarding sustainable energy. This research identifies six factors stimulating the substantial upscaling of demonstrated sustainable energy technology. It is based on a narrative review study analyzing the scientific core literature over six recent years. The factors that stimulate upscaling of sustainable energy technology in and from demonstrations are (1) governmental support, (2) university-industry-government interaction, (3) coordinated flow of demonstrations, (4) investments in complementary technology and infrastructure, (5) presence of stimulating market forces, and (6) using the economic benefits of scaling up. This complex of factors stimulates demonstrative upscaling (exploiting demonstrated sustainable energy technologies in specialized niche markets) and transformative upscaling (further growth of demonstrated sustainable energy technologies in niche and regular markets). This study is the first to provide a structured overview and insight into how these six factors stimulate and accelerate demonstrative and transformative upscaling and identifies a need for more attention to transformative upscaling in research and practice.