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ABSTRACT In many places, the electricity sector is transitioning towards greater share of renewable energy technologies. In the initial phase of the transition, a primary concern for
research and policy was to establish renewables as technically and economically viable options. Today, the situation is different: renewables are diffusing rapidly in many electricity grids,
thereby generating major changes for existing technologies, organizations and infrastructures. In this new phase of the energy transition, we do not just witness an acceleration of earlier
transition dynamics, but also qualitatively new phenomena. These include a complex interaction of multiple technologies, the decline of established business models and technologies,
intensified economic and political struggles of key actors such as utility companies and industry associations, and major challenges for the overall functioning and performance of the
electricity sector (for example, when integrating renewables). Drawing on a transition studies perspective, this paper compares the two phases and discusses implications for research and
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CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS THE ROLE OF RENEWABLES FOR RAPID TRANSITIONING OF THE POWER SECTOR ACROSS STATES IN INDIA Article Open access 21 September 2022 THE ROLE OF ELECTRIC GRID
RESEARCH IN ADDRESSING CLIMATE CHANGE Article 21 August 2024 AN ASSESSMENT OF ENERGY SYSTEM TRANSFORMATION PATHWAYS TO ACHIEVE NET-ZERO CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS IN SWITZERLAND Article Open
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Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research has received funding from the Research Council of Norway (Energix program, Project ‘Integration of Power Transmission Grids’, grant no.
243994) and it is also part of the activities of the Swiss Competence Center for Energy Research (SCCER CREST), financially supported by Innosuisse under grant no. KTI 1155000154. I thank V.
Hoffmann, A. D. Andersen, B. Girod, F. Kern, C. Knoeri, M. Schwartz and B. Turnheim for their comments. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Management, Technology
and Economics, Group for Sustainability and Technology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Zürich, Switzerland Jochen Markard Authors * Jochen Markard View author
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AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Markard, J. The next phase of the energy transition and its implications for research and policy. _Nat Energy_
3, 628–633 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-018-0171-7 Download citation * Received: 23 October 2017 * Accepted: 30 April 2018 * Published: 28 May 2018 * Issue Date: August 2018 * DOI:
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