Emerging Smart Grid Struggles - Smart Grid (R) Evolution: Electric Power Struggles - page 7

strengthened both our individual passion for understanding and revealing the complexities
of energy system change and our humility in facing the magnitude of change. Together we
challenge one another to broaden our individual tendencies to focus on particular aspects
of the elephant. Our long-term collaboration has forced us to talk, think, and write in
synergistic ways that result in more comprehensive reflections than any of one of us could
produce by herself.
We began writing this topic while staying in a net zero-energy passive-house renovated
Irish cottage on the rugged and remote northwestern coast of Donegal in the summer
of 2013. This house, which is the home of Jennie Stephens' parents, Cathal and Sarah
Stephens, was recently renovated by Cathal Stephens, an architect with a keen interest
in demonstrating the possibilities of technical and social change toward making buildings
more sustainable (Stephens 2011 ) . The home is powered by its own 6.6 kW wind turbine
that takes advantage of the steady, strong winds of coastal Donegal. During a weeklong
writing retreat that we spent at this house, we solidified our appreciation for the powerful
feeling associated with the reliable and clean independence of working and living in a
house that generates its own electricity. As we spent hours researching, writing, organizing
our ideas, and structuring this topic, we drank tea (ate chocolate) and gazed at the shifting
colors of Trawenagh Bay. The window framed both the small turbine that powered the
house and, in the distance across the Bay, several large industrial-scale wind turbines that
spun steadily. Within this setting we were aware of the rapidly changing roles of energy
and the growing role of wind resources in Ireland and around the world.
1.4 Emerging Tensions and Power Struggles
Stories of smart grid development are useful for studying and understanding energy system
change because of the multiple tensions that emerge among the different actors' visions
and interpretations of smart grid's promises and pitfalls. Power struggles are emerging
in multiple complex ways in different regions, with different consequences. While the
dominant paradigm of smart grid remains one of technological progress and utilitarian
efficiency, smart grid development also highlights multiple emerging and entrenched
struggles. Some of these struggles and tensions are demonstrated in the September 2013
release of the independent film Take Back Your Power , in which multiple skeptical views
about why smart grid is being pushed, who may benefit, and who may pay the price
are communicated in an investigative journalistic style. Our topic, in contrast, is based
on two multiyear, National Science Foundation-funded research projects in which we
have analyzed hundreds of documents and interviewed dozens of individuals from many
institutions who are involved and engaged in energy systems. Our research has led us
to consider big and small questions, ongoing and emerging challenges, and the multiple