Collaborative Research: The Adoption of an Emerging Technology for Improving the Electrical Delivery System

这一合作项目将研究以先进或“智能”计量技术为核心的“智能电网”，以及寻求更高效、更灵敏和更可持续的能源系统的社区对其的采用。美国各地智能电表的实施一直断断续续且参差不齐，其原因人们知之甚少。这项研究将探讨新技术的影响，以及促进和阻碍其在不同社会组织层面上实施的社会和制度动态。该项目将综合场论和过渡理论，以了解智能电表的实施，以及更广泛地说，美国电力系统的转型。它具有重要意义，因为它将有助于我们理解快速发展的智能电表领域和更广泛的能量转换。这项拟议的研究将使社会受益，因为它将使从业者、政策制定者和研究人员深入了解促进和阻碍智能电表实施的现场因素和流程-智能电表被广泛视为21世纪高效、安全和可持续能源系统的关键。拟议的研究考察了一个新兴社会技术领域的关系动态，重点是智能电表的情况。拟议研究的目的是调查导致智能计量系统发展不平衡的组织间冲突和合作。这项研究提出了嵌套式研究设计和三角多方法方法，旨在1)调查构建和生产一个州当代智能电表领域的组织间关系；2)对四个说明不同成功和失败的智能电表项目进行深入研究；3)建立和分析包含智能电表实施及其与公共和私人资金、知识生产、技术创新和治理的关系的量化数据集。结果将传播给从业人员，包括政府、私营企业和公用事业公司的采访伙伴。完成后，还将通过项目网站向感兴趣的个人提供量化数据集和相关元数据。

This collaborative project will study the "smart grid" - with advanced- or "smart" metering technologies at its core and its adoption by communities seeking a more efficient, responsive, and sustainable energy system. Smart meter implementation across the U.S. has been intermittent and uneven and the reasons for this are poorly understood. This study will explore the impacts of the new technology, and the social and institutional dynamics that facilitate and impede its implementation at different levels of social organization. The project will synthesis field theory and transition theory to understand smart meter implementation, and more broadly, the transformation of the American electricity system. It is significant because it will contribute to our understanding of the rapidly evolving smart meter field and of energy transitions more generally. The proposed research will benefit society because it will provide practitioners, policymakers, and researchers with insight into the field-level factors and processes that facilitate and impede the implementation of smart meters - widely seen as key to an efficient, secure, and sustainable energy system in the 21st century.The proposed study examines relational dynamics in an emerging sociotechnical field, focusing on the case of smart meters. The objective of the proposed research is to investigate inter-organizational conflict and cooperation that have led to the uneven development of smart metering systems. The study proposes a nested research design and triangulated multi-method approach aiming to 1) investigate inter-organizational relations that structure and produce a state's contemporary smart meter field; 2) conduct in-depth studies of four smart meter projects that illustrate different successes and failures; and 3) build and analyze a quantitative dataset containing national- and state-level information on smart meter implementation and its relationship to public and private funding, knowledge production, technological innovation, and governance. Results will be disseminated to practitioners, including interview partners in government, private businesses, and utility companies. When complete, the quantitative dataset and related metadata will be also made available to interested individuals through the project website.