Governance of public involvement in the energy system transition: insights from Ireland and Scotland

It examines key discourses in two case study countries (Scotland and Ireland) and analyses these using a governmentality approach. This facilitates the use of concepts such as problematisation, technologies and rationalities, which are used to investigate how varying stakeholders in Ireland and Scotland discuss the role of the public in the energy system. To analyse the connections between varying perspectives, another analytical tool, interplay, is introduced.<br><br>The data for this research consists of interviews with key stakeholders, policy documents, policy consultation submissions, public event recordings, and reports by key stakeholders.

Analysing how public involvement in its many forms is problematised, what strategies are adopted, and what moral elaborations guide this gives insights into how the public is governed and what challenges and opportunities are connected to this, which poses one of the most crucial challenges for the energy transition.<br><br>This has resulted in several contributions. First, the research contributes to the understanding of involvement, the Whole-of-Society approach, and governmentality.

The second category of contributions relates to methodology, and the use of novel methods during a pandemic. Lastly, the research highlights that there have been main themes under which the measures to aim to involve the public in the transition can be categorised; awareness raising, inspiring, and empowerment. The analysis of the different stakeholder perspectives in relation to these strategies highlights conflicts between how the public is imagined and the adopted practices, indicating a need to reconsider the prevalent rationalities connected to the involvement of the public in the energy transition.