Arizona State University

Graduate Student, School of Sustainability

NSF GK-12 Fellow

School of Sustainability

Thesis Title: Renewable energy implementation strategies: A case study of decision making in Thailand

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As a developing country, Thailand creates unique opportunities for innovation. Because they have fewer investments in large scale energy infrastructure, they can afford to be innovative. While the rest of the world struggles to move away from a fossil fuel based system, Thailand can make this transition in leaps and bounds. Moreover, Thailand is motivated to make the transition by the fact that it has few fossil fuel resources and consumes all of what it has. My research will examine the institutional factors that have had the greatest affect on Thailand’s renewable-energy implementation and transition by focusing on four areas:
1. Governing energy transitions: What are the key features that govern energy transitions? Has Thailand’s energy path added to these features?
2. Path dependency in national energy policy and energy transitions: How does path dependency impact energy transitions? How has Thailand’s past impacted its current energy policies?
3. Polycentric governance regimes for energy transitions: What types of actors and power relationships are key in energy transitions? Do these relationships lead to positive outcomes? Can we structure institutions (design mechanisms and incentive structures) to leverage power relations in directions that lead to better outcomes? How are citizens involved in the process and affected by the products of renewable-energy development? How do organizational structures and cultural norms support stakeholders to articulate and then realize their goals?
4. Polycentric institutional arrangements and energy transitions: How does renewable-energy implementation affect the vulnerability of a state to the international energy market dynamics, including prices and depleting nonrenewable resources?

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