Abstract Summary
To achieve net zero emissions, it is necessary to encourage more citizen participation in the energy transition – by energy consumers turning into prosumers who generate, store, consume and sell excess energy to the grid. Initiatives like the 'Clean Energy for All Europeans’ legislative package have been agreed upon to encourage participation, for instance through citizen-led cooperatives called energy communities (ECs). However, the process of transitioning has not been fair and inclusive – enabling equal opportunities for citizen contributions. The limitations in the fixed energy grid due to congestion, capacity limits, uneven infrastructural development and network disruptions, etc., present unequal opportunities for consumers and prosumers; including individual households and ECs, to thrive. This creates grid vulnerabilities for citizens as the connection to affordable, accessible, quality and reliable grid services for the trading and sharing of energy is limited. Grid vulnerabilities can further exacerbate energy and transport poverty as the electricity for household consumption and clean transport services are also grid-dependent. Through a systematic literature review conducted on studies within the European context, we explore the connections between grid vulnerabilities, energy and transport poverty. To understand the uneven geography that exists, we also highlight the various perspectives on the geographical differences in these grid vulnerabilities. Then, building on the systematic literature review, we develop a novel conceptual framework on the implications of grid vulnerabilities for energy consumers and prosumers. Our findings show that to various levels, the benefits and costs in the clean transition are not equally distributed among the stakeholders, and across geography. Hence, we provide insights on grid vulnerabilities with respect to enabling more equal opportunities for the different system actors in the energy transition.
