Collective institutional entrepreneurship for fostering sustainable energy transitions in India Citation for published version (APA): Jolly, S. (2016). Collective institutional entrepreneurship for fostering sustainable energy transitions in India. Technische Universiteit Eindhoven. Document status and date: Published: 18/02/2016 Document Version: Publisher’s PDF, also known as Version of Record (includes final page, issue and volume numbers) Please check the document version of this publication: • A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. 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If the publication is distributed under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license above, please follow below link for the End User Agreement: www.tue.nl/taverne Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at: [email protected] providing details and we will investigate your claim. Download date: 04. Oct. 2021 Collective institutional entrepreneurship for fostering sustainable energy transitions in India institutional entrepreneurship Collective Invitation Collective institutional I would like to extend a warm welcome and invite you to entrepreneurship for attend the public defense of my doctoral dissertation fostering sustainable Collective institutional energy transitions in India entrepreneurship for fostering sustainable energy transitions in India The defense will take place on Thursday February 18, 2016 at 14:00 in the FILMZAAL of the Zwarte Doos of the Eindhoven University of Technology. There will be a reception afterwards to which you are also warmly invited Suyash Jolly Suyash Jolly Jolly Suyash [email protected]; [email protected] Eindhoven University of Technology School of Innovation Sciences Suyash Jolly Phone: 31-0653953212 Collective institutional entrepreneurship for fostering sustainable energy transitions in India Suyash Jolly 2016 This research has been made possible by funding from NWO WOTRO. Research in this thesis has been carried out in the context of the NWO-WOTRO Integrated Programme on Experimenting for Sustainability in India and Thailand: A transitions perspective on sustainable electricity and mobility initiatives (W 01.65.330.00). Suyash Jolly Collective institutional entrepreneurship for fostering sustainable energy transitions in India Eindhoven: Eindhoven University of Technology Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences A catalogue record is available from the Eindhoven University of Technology Library ISBN: 978-90-386-4023-5 Photo front cover: Ashish Ranjan Cover design: Proefschriftmaken.nl || Uitgeverij BOXPress Layout: Proefschriftmaken.nl || Uitgeverij BOXPress Printing: Uitgeverij BOXPress, ’s‐Hertogenbosch Copyright 2016, Suyash Jolly All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission by the author. Collective institutional entrepreneurship for fostering sustainable energy transitions in India PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, op gezag van de rector magnificus prof.dr.ir. F.P.T. Baaijens, voor een commissie aangewezen door College voor Promoties, in het openbaar te verdedigen op donderdag 18 februari 2016 om 14:00 uur door Suyash Jolly geboren op Dehradun, India Dit proefschrift is goedgekeurd door de promotoren en de samenstelling van de promotiecommissie is als volgt: voorzitter: prof.dr. I.E.J. Heynderickx 1e promotor: prof.dr.ir. R.P.J.M. Raven (Utrecht University) 2e promotor: prof.dr.ir. G.P.J. Verbong leden: prof.dr. F. Berkhout (King’s College London) prof.dr. P. Karnøe (Aalborg University) prof.dr. L. Lemmens dr. H.A. Romijn Het onderzoek of ontwerp dat in dit proefschrift / proefontwerp wordt beschreven is uitgevoerd in overeenstemming met de TU/e Gedragscode Wetenschapsbeoefening. Dedicated to Hazrat Amir Khusro and Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Sahab Summary SUMMARY Collective institutional entrepreneurship for fostering sustainable energy transitions in India The objective of this dissertation is to explore the role of multiple actors and their collective strategies in transforming energy systems based on incumbent fossil fuel energy systems in India. India’s energy system which is largely based on coal, large scale hydro power plants, oil and natural gas is currently facing substantial challenges related to climate change, energy security, energy poverty with the need to balance these concerns with demands for rapid economic growth. In order to tackle these energy challenges, the Indian government has started the Jawahar Lal Nehru National Solar Mission and the National Wind Energy mission for mainstreaming sustainable energy technologies such as wind and solar PV energy. Despite promising actions by the Indian government, there are still challenges for mainstreaming wind and solar PV energy due to plurality of social interests and objectives. The challenges are also complex due to multiple and heterogeneous stakeholders at central and state government level in federal context like India and limited capabilities for implementation of policies and regulations. Resolving these challenges and moving ahead requires collective action between different actors with varying levels of power, resources, interests and motivation. This dissertation therefore focuses on understanding these challenges, the different strategies actors collectively use to transform institutional arrangements in the context of the energy system in India. This doctoral dissertation therefore examines the following central research question: How do actors collectively challenge institutional arrangements in the context of energy transitions in India ? The dissertation builds on the sustainability transitions and collective institutional entrepreneurship literature. The main theoretical positioning of the dissertation is that while existing sustainability transitions literature has examined energy transitions using a number of conceptual perspectives, there are relatively limited empirical insights on the role of collective actor strategies in challenging dominant institutional arrangements. The introductory chapter of the dissertation presents an overview of the theoretical positioning of the research focusing on sustainability transitions and collective institutional entrepreneurship literature, research method and overview of the different papers included as chapters. Chapters two, three, four, five and six focus on answering the main research question by studying development of wind and solar PV energy in India through different theoretical lenses and empirical studies conducted at a different unit of analysis. Methodologically the dissertation takes a qualitative case study approach and uses archival data sources, semi-structured interviews and participant observations in forums and conferences collected during field work in India. 6 Summary Chapter 2 focuses on social enterprises providing off grid solar PV solutions to disadvantaged people without energy access in India. It develops a broad classification of different upscaling dimensions of promising business model experiments in India and emphasizes the importance of institutional innovation for sustainability transitions. Chapter 3 focuses on historical development of wind energy in India. This chapter builds upon insights from chapter one and looks at the role of institutional innovation in development of novel innovations. It highlights the importance of collective institutional entrepreneurship where multiple actors are adapting their institutional strategies while facing conflicts with each other. This chapter emphasizes the need for deliberating on ongoing conflicts between powerful and weaker actors by being open to inputs from marginalized actors and providing opportunities to them for participating in decision making process. Chapter 4 compares wind energy development in India considered as an emerging institutional context and Finland considered as a mature institutional context. This chapter building upon insights from third chapter which compares institutional entrepreneurship in mature and emerging institutional contexts. This chapter concludes that emerging institutional contexts such as India, do not