Linköping Studies in Arts and Science No. 730, 2017
Assembling
the
S
mart
G
rid
Anna W
allst
en
Smart grid is a concept that is frequently used in imaginaries about the future energy system. Although the smart grid is largely undefined, demonstration projects act as tools intended to congeal sprawling ideas into functional configurations. Thus, demonstration projects function as arenas that pave the way for what the future might entail.
This study follows how a smart grid is assembled within a Swedish demonstration project. It sheds light on the different forces that shape this process and ultimately on the reality of Swedish households as part of this socio-material configuration in the making. This study finds a potential in user engagements, although this is currently suppressed in a market regime arranged around economic incentives. The results call for an extended scrutiny of whose interests are guiding smart grid development and whose interests are excluded.
Anna Wallsten is a researcher at the Department of Thematic Studies –
Technology and Social Change at Linköping University, Sweden. FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
Linköping Studies in Arts and Science No. 730, 2017
The Department of Thematic Studies – Technology and Social Change Linköping University
SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden
www.liu.se
