English Abstract This report is part of a project funded by the Dutch
National Research Programme on Global Air Pollution and Climate Change (NRP)
called MATRIC: Management of Technology Responses to the Climate Challenge.
Central to the Matric project is the question "How to modulate the ongoing
dynamics of sociotechnical change to the climate change needs?" In the
project this question is answered through empirical research in three
so-called technological domains: transport and mobility; electricity
generation and use; and ecodesign. Electricity in Flux, Sociotechnical
Change in the Electricity System, 1970-2000 presents the results of the
empirical study on electricity generation and use. The report analyses
developments of the past three decades in the electricity system in the
perspective of co-evolution of technological and societal development. The
electricity system based on fossil-based, large-scale, technology and a
relatively closed social network is changing towards a much more diverse
system in terms of actors, sources and technologies. This report explains
how developments in the institutional set-up, technological base, and
societal preferences and problems, underlie this process of change and
provide opportunities for modulation of electricity generation and use in a
climate friendly direction.
