Governing resource making in energy transitions: a study of shifting configurations of biogas in Denmark from farming to big business

Abstract

The development of non-fossil energy resources has become a critical component of contemporary energy transition governance. We argue that some of the dominant governance models supporting the development of new energy resources are informed by a continuity-biased understanding of how the generation of new resources is likely to occur. In contrast, this paper suggests that new energy resources may develop through discontinuities. Based on a case study of resource-making activities pertaining to biogas in Denmark, we argue that the integration of new knowledge within established resource configurations can provoke disruptive reconfigurations. Empirically, our study demonstrates how biogas was initially configured as a local heating resource informed by farmers’ knowledge concerning operation of biogas reactors in the 1970s. From 2005 to 2012 biogas was reconfigured as biomethane with relevance to the low-carbon transition of the national energy system, informed by energy system knowledge that addressed it as a mess of molecules. Finally, from 2012 to 2016 biomethane was rendered into an attractive object of capital investment by reconfiguring green biomethane as a virtual green market object. Our findings suggest that knowledge that redefines and re-organises the configuration of energy resources is an important aspect of low-carbon transition governance.