Subproject 3
Legal aspects, spatial planning, social acceptance and business models
Novelty of the solution of the subproject
STES has not yet been studied in depth from the point of view of law and planning, (political)
acceptance and business administration:
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From a regulatory (WP1) and planning perspective, significant legal uncertainties exist today, e.g. in planning law, in the demarcation of public land and private land ownership, in environmental law and in public procurement law. This legal uncertainty makes construction and operation more expensive and, in the worst case scenario, impossible. The project is novel by analysing legal and planning problems on the basis of concrete STES projects (SP10) and by developing concrete solutions, showing at which level (municipality, cantonal and federal) legislative action is needed.
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From a spatial planning (WP2) and social science perspective (WP3), STES is a particularly under-researched topic and also neglected in public debates. The present interdisciplinary and applied project will generate important insights to better link society and technology development.
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To address financing of STES projects, WP4 deals with associated business models.
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One main challenge is to apply scientific knowledge to particular cases. This project offers and tests one relevant solution, namely expert workshops that discuss new technological solutions and identify challenges and solutions for concrete case studies from an interdisciplinary perspective (WP5).
Objectives of the subproject
Scientific, economic and societal
SP3 bridges the gap between STES technology development and societal processes such as law,politics and economics. On the one hand, social science research should be made aware of the needs and prerequisites that lead to the construction and operation of STES. On the other hand, the specific STES case studies draw attention to the regulatory and political structures that have to be considered during construction and operation. The ultimate aim is to reduce the transaction costs of regulatory and political processes for STES and to reduce the corresponding uncertainties, helping to develop solutions that are feasible and acceptable.
Environmental
Many stakeholders, such as SFOE and European Commission, emphasize the importance of business models for a successful energy transition and sustainable production and consumption. This SP will review existing BMs for STES in CH and abroad and will further propose new BMs that can support the implementation and growth of STES in CH and Europe (compare Gassmann et al. 2014), thereby creating economic, societal, and environmental value.
Research partners