Development of a novel framework for the analysis of Technological Innovation Systems by Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) in energy systems

Abstract

ABSTRACT Greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, as one of the main sources of anthropogenic climate change accounts for two-third of the global emissions. In this issue, Iran has adopted a set of policies and goals to consider related technology development. One of these technologies around which several national programmes have launched is the Cogeneration of Heat and Power (CHP). Nevertheless, the national goals have not been fulfilled as expected. The aim of this paper is therefore to provide a framework in order to identify the bottlenecks hindering CHP development in Iran. This framework is based on the Technological Innovation System (TIS) along with the Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) to decipher the profound and latent factors causing these problems. The results reveal a significant role of the discourses and visions both directly on the failure of the CHP innovation system functions and indirectly through affecting structural problems. A notable policy suggestion is to change the discourse of centralised power generation and to make more effort to legitimate the energy efficiency in the society. The developed framework can also be beneficial to policy-makers to formulate and analyse the future visions for the CHP plants.