How to achieve spatially just energy transition planning? Data and approaches.

Abstract

The spatial dimension of energy transition planning has long found its way into energy system modelling. However, common techno-economic energy models are weak to depict the broader context of society, which can result in an uneven spatial or demographic distribution of goods and bads. Going forward, this has dire implications for energy justice, and for that matter social justice.
It is therefore central to be able to identify areas and groups that are underrepresented and disadvantaged in current energy transition planning, for example due to lower subsidy availability or lower solar adaption likelihood, and to assess the implications of future infrastructure and reform plans on society. For this, justice aspects must find a way into energy system modelling. This raises following questions: Which indicators describe justice in the context of the energy transition? Which spatially disaggregated demographic data do we need to be able to represent society in models, and thus judge different development pathways from a socio-political angle? We answer these questions in the scope of a structured literature review.
Subsequently, we provide an overview of the data needs in different fields of energy system modelling, for example education level, occupation, income, and building standards. Additionally, we show the state-of-the-art methods striving to close the gap into energy models though story building, scenario development, data processing, optimization, result assessment and discussion. Finally, we call for the inclusion of spatially disaggregated demographic data into energy modelling at the appropriate modelling steps, so that justice finds its way into transition planning.