Energy Frictions: Uneven Energy Transitions in Bolivia, Colombia, and Paraguay

Keywords: Energy Transitions, Latin America, Scale, Friction
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

This paper examines the frictions generated by renewable energy transitions across three Latin American countries: Bolivia, Colombia, and Paraguay. Reworking Anna Tsing’s concept of ‘friction,’ which she uses to explore the unequal and creative tensions underpinning processes of global exchange, we develop the notion of ‘energy frictions’ to discuss how energy matrices at various scales and with varying histories come into tension with one another in a moment of supposed transition. Friction is a particularly salient concept for energy studies, given that physical friction results in a loss of useful energy – this loss implying also reduced economic potential. Taking this thermodynamic principle as a starting point, we develop a framework for examining the economic, political, infrastructural, and environmental frictions that operate across multiple socioenvironmental scales and ultimately constitute contemporary energy transitions. Yet as Tsing notes, friction does not necessarily imply a limitation for capital accumulation; these moments of creative tension can even generate new sources of revenue. Analogously, we argue that energy frictions trigger a proliferation of energy producing activities rather than a wholesale transition from one source to another. While Bolivia, Colombia, and Paraguay have been distinctly incorporated into the world energy system, and while each is pursuing its own internal energy transition plan, what remains consistent is the degree to which renewable energy activities have been added to – rather than displacing – existing energy systems.