Industrial fields and countervailing power: The transformation of distributed solar energy in the United States

Abstract The case of distributed solar energy (e.g., rooftop photovoltaics) and the electricity system in the U.S. is used to develop the theory of long-term transitions in large sociotechnical systems. The study shows the advantages of analyzing sociotechnical transitions as taking place in technological fields in which advocates of different design approaches struggle for position. Over time, grassroots innovations that are connected with aspirations of local ownership tend to be displaced by better-funded models of financing supported by corporations in the financial and technology industries. The processes of blockage by the incumbents, countervailing industrial power, and incorporation and transformation (by incumbents) are developed in a field theory framework to advance the study of large technological systems in general and sustainability transitions in particular.

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