Energy systems needing to be reformed find, at a territorial level, a new perspective to reach objectives of energy efficiency, of de-carbonization, of supply and of the conversion of use towards a more sober approach. In fact we witness in France and in Europe that locally the energy issue is put on the agenda: territories are showing new competencies and are appropriating the necessary instruments to go in this direction (local electricity distribution, energy networks, mixed funding companies, etc.)
Still often perceived as a constraint rather than as a renewal opportunity, the creation of a new attractivity or a re-dynamization of the local community, the processes in motion provoke, in spite of everything, a growing interest and lead us to predict new initiatives in public action. This topic will be the chance to raise questions about the way in which collectivities make of this energy question a political issue for their territories, characterizing putting energy on the agenda and the actions which result. We are interested in, among others, the policies of a decentralized production of energy and their forms, more or less participative, as well as the development of “intelligent” networks which can be deployed across numerous territories. We must equally call for a comparison between Europe and the world in order to understand the current processes, beyond local difficulties.
The territorialization of energy transition calls into question globally national policies, in the sense that the idea of a unique territorial transition model is largely called into question. The challenge is that territories engage in their own models and try to adapt to the objectives fixed at national and European levels. What are the observable territorial differences (choice of energy mix, circular economy, the mobilization of local actors)? What is at stake here are the social imagination and energy policies: energy sovereignty and energy self-sufficiency, the solidarity and the mutualization of energies, auto-consumption, peer-to-peer… It is also an opportunity to address the fact that recent territorial competition might make reconfigurations of competencies appear, and there will then be, among the different levels of public actors (regions, departments, inter-communities, communities, urban, rural, etc.) winners but also losers.