SUPERVISOR: Christoph GÖRG 

PROJECT ASSIGNED TO: Carmen SÉRA-PENKER

The dependency on fossil fuel imports is a problem for many states globally, but even more so for island states. In the Caribbean region, it leads to high expenditures weighing heavily on the economy despite abundant renewable energy resources. Barbados is often presented as a role model piloting renewable energy, but it is also heavily impacted by this import dependency. The energy transition process is not advancing as projected to achieve the ambitious goal of a 100% renewable energy and carbon neutral island state by 2030. To explore why and to what extent it matters that the transition is taking place in an island state, the dissertation asks how energy dependency, power relations in the energy system and island spatiality shape the energy transition in Barbados. To answer this research question, the relevant literature was reviewed and expert interviews conducted and thematically coded. Drawing on regional foundations of energy transitions and examining the energy transition process in, of and by the island state facilitates a systematisation of the analysis of relevant energy transition structures and actions. Connecting this framework to the understanding of the island as a political interstice emphasises how the energy transition is shaped by connection and separation aspects. The results highlight to what extent island spatiality influences the possibilities for decarbonisation, while the energy transition objective itself is situated in an interstice trying to reach 100% renewable energy while continuing fossil fuel exploration and extraction. Though, power relations also determine to what extent a transformation of the energy system is possible. Applying a neo-Gramscian approach to the analysis of the energy transition process, further findings show how passive revolution and trasformismo are used to maintain the fossil-fuel energy regime. The results outline which potential alternatives to the dominant energy transition trajectory are developed locally.

Carmen Séra-Penker is the recipient of a DOC Fellowship of the Austrian Academy of Sciences at the Institute of Social Ecology.