Explaining the Diffusion of Renewable Electricity Technologies in Canadian Remote Indigenous Communities through the Technological Innovation System Approach

Konstantinos Karanasios,Paul Parker

doi:10.3390/su10113871

Konstantinos Karanasios, Paul Parker

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su10113871

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Oct 24, 2018
Citations: 9	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Waterloo

Abstract

This paper applies the Technological Innovation System (TIS) approach for the first time in the context of remote indigenous communities in Northwest Territories (NWT) and Ontario, Canada, to explain the diffusion of Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs). These communities need reliable and sustainable electricity to address social, environmental and economic development issues. The study examines the diffusion of RETs during the 2000–2016 period, identifies the systemic and transformational failures responsible for the functional performance of the TISs, and generates insights about factors that have the potential to sustain the development of RET projects. Findings suggest that the TIS-proposed causal mechanisms were present and performed as expected. Since the accumulation of TIS functions influences the rate of deployment of renewable technologies, policy intervention to improve local learning and networking could lead to accelerated diffusion of RETs to the benefit of remote communities and other stakeholders.

Highlights

There is increasing interest in the role of renewable energy technologies (RETs) within community sustainability transitions, ranging from energy efficiency measures to energy efficient housing development and local electricity generation [1,2,3]
The niche consists of a sociotechnical practice, defined as the deployment of existing RETs in remote communities by indigenous governments with the purpose of undertaking the electricity generation functions currently performed by Crown corporations, with the aim to improve community sustainability, and environmental and socioeconomic conditions
The Technological Innovation System (TIS) is concerned with the associated administrative procedures, institutional and organizational changes, and regulatory and fiscal arrangements that allow for indigenous ownership of the RET application and participation in the electricity generation process

Summary

Introduction

There is increasing interest in the role of renewable energy technologies (RETs) within community sustainability transitions, ranging from energy efficiency measures to energy efficient housing development and local electricity generation [1,2,3]. Off-grid, communities are permanent or long term (five years or more) settlements with at least 10 dwellings that are not connected to the North American electricity grid or the piped natural gas network [5]. The transformation of these local electrical systems through the introduction of RETs has the potential to reduce environmental impacts in the form of carbon emissions, fuel spills and leakages, increase electricity supply and reliability, as well as improve socioeconomic conditions through new housing and business connections and reductions of community electrification costs [4]. Fifty-three of these projects were developed after 2006 and the majority were installed in NWT (29 projects) and Ontario (13 projects) [7,8,9,10,11,12,13]

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