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

该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、反应更灵敏和可持续能源系统的社区对其的采用。智能电表在美国的实施是断断续续和不平衡的，人们对其原因知之甚少。本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实施的社会和制度动态。该项目将综合现场理论和过渡理论来理解智能电表的实施，更广泛地说，是美国电力系统的转型。这项研究意义重大，因为它将有助于我们对快速发展的智能电表领域和更广泛的能源转换的理解。拟议的研究将有利于社会，因为它将为从业者、政策制定者和研究人员提供深入了解促进和阻碍智能电表实施的现场因素和过程的见解——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。拟议的研究考察了新兴社会技术领域的关系动态，重点是智能电表的案例。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。该研究提出了一种嵌套研究设计和三角化多方法方法，旨在1)调查组织间关系，这些关系构成和产生了一个州的当代智能电表领域；2)对四个智能电表项目进行深入研究，说明不同的成功和失败；3)建立并分析一个定量数据集，其中包含国家和州一级关于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信息。调查结果将分发给从业人员，包括政府、私营企业和公用事业公司的访谈伙伴。完成后，定量数据集和相关元数据也将通过项目网站提供给感兴趣的个人。

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.