New Ownership Models Shaping the Electricity System Transition Evidence from Sweden

Abstract

It is becoming increasingly clear that with the transition to an electricity system based on renewable production, not only the production units will be replaced, but the socio-technical system will also have to be resketched. Thus, questions of how to efficiently organize the system structure arise. The possibilities are vast; both production and ownership could to various degrees be decentralized, or remain in the hands of central actors. Consequently, the aim of this master thesis is to examine what ownership models for renewable electricity production are emerging in Sweden, how these relate to the traditional ownership model in the Swedish electricity sector and in what way these new ownership models are changing the system. Secondary literature sources are used to construct a design space, allowing for visualization of different possible ownership models. Using data from semi-structured interviews with respondents from both the industry and academia, different ownership models within the Swedish electricity system are conceptually mapped. The findings from this thesis suggest that the Swedish electricity system faces socio-technical lock-ins to a centrally owned large-scale production, but that decentralized ownership models are increasingly becoming part of the Swedish electricity system. Thus, the Swedish electricity system appears to incorporate a hybrid solution, where decentralized ownership of small-scale production, in the form of prosumer-to-grid solutions, exists alongside large-scale centrally owned production.