TEK5420 ¨C Norway¡¯s Energy Transitions: Policy Directions and Challenges

Course content

Energy politics and policy form the background and the main concern of the course, which simply put is that in order to understand the energy transition we need to understand the role of interests, actors, and politics, that lead to certain policies and make others less likely to happen. The attention is primarily on the Norwegian developments, but frequently contrasted with examples from other countries. The course will venture into areas beyond the electricity sector, but the primary focus is on stationary, electrical energy. The course uses Norway as an empirical example, to enable the students to understand how political framework conditions are shaped by different factors - and how these factors again influence the energy transition.

The course will start by explaining how policy work is adopted and is shaped by what factors, before subsequent lectures will apply this to different empirical arenas and sub-sectors and the change pressure they are experiencing. Such arenas and sub-sectors include a general design of the Norwegian electricity sector (design and contingent shape and alternatives), solar PV prosuming in Norway developments, windpower licensing and how this is the primary reason for the current reduction in PV diffusion, as well as similar issues.

The course will have a primary focus on policy as a driver of the Norwegian energy sector transitions. A goal for the course is to communicate the importance of understanding political conditions, why and how these are not randomly shaped, and how they influence the direction of changes in the energy system.