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Project overview

O-STET (Operationalising Socio-technical Energy Transitions) is a collaborative research initiative that brings socio-technical energy transition (STET) ideas into use within real world decision making on energy transition.

STET analysis combines long-term frameworks, qualitative scenarios and quantitative modelling elements, to improve understanding of how socio-technical change happens across the whole energy system. The project has responded to calls to provide more tractable and actionable insights from the STET approach, to inform real-world decision making about energy transition.  

The O-STET project is a collaboration between researchers at Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø and the University of Sussex. At Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø there is a systems modelling team with a long track record in STET modelling, and at Sussex are experts in sustainability transitions from the Science Policy Research Unit. The main non-academic partner is the Energy Systems Catapult. Ongoing collaboration between these three teams ensures a broad and applicable set of outcomes are achieved through the project. A series of workshops has informed the research, along with a dissemination meetings with government.

Funding and duration

Project Duration

Two years, five months (November 2018 to April 2021)

Sponsor

Outputs

O-STET outcomes include:

• A new STET model, called TEMPEST, that simulates the UK’s energy transition as a political, social, and technological process. 
• A set of scenarios that indicate the socio-political feasibility of reaching national emissions reductions targets, under varying future conditions.
• Recommendations for improving he socio-political feasibility of the UK’s energy transition.
• A branching point analysis on alternative pathways for the decarbonisation of heat in the UK’s built environment.
• Conference presentations and academic papers

Impact

O-STET insights and models will be provided open source for use by stakeholders, such as the Energy Systems Catapult and energy modellers from BEIS, and published on the Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø Energy Institute website. The outputs will complement existing energy transition modelling, informing policy making, the energy industry, researchers in energy, and third sector organisations.

People

Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²ÊÖÐÌØÍø team

• Neil Strachan (PI)
• Rachel Freeman (Senior Research Fellow)
• Brunilde Verrier (Research Fellow)

University of Sussex team

• Tim Foxon (Co-I)
• Katherine Lovell (Research Fellow)