Political strategies in energy transitions: Exploring power dynamics, repertories of interest groups and wind energy pathways in Brazil

Abstract

Sustainable energy transitions lead to selective pressures that reshape the power relations between existing regimes, inducing political and economic reorganizations, and creating institutional tension. This study analyzes the political mobilization of interest groups around shifts in the wind power regime, their ways of influencing the governmental agenda, and the primary discursive strategies employed. The analysis spans the period from 2000 to 2018 having Brazil as a case study. Initially, the analysis focused on (i) the election financing for the period, before shifting to the developments of the network formed during the campaign financing, driven by (ii) the participation of these stakeholders in public hearings of the federal government. The analysis allowed us to identify the strategies that are used to influence the political process carried out by the political subsystem formed around the wind power regime. Understanding political representation strategies in a sustainable energy transition is important for analyzing the construction of democratic and fair energy regimes.