Socio-technical lock-in and the alignment framework: The case of distributed generation technologies

Whereas a centralized energy supply system is still dominant today, the energy sector is currently witnessing the development of small-scale and more geographically dispersed generation units, so-called distributed generation technologies. The alignment framework proposes a very useful approach to look at this evolution. Yet, we argue in this paper that this framework does not fully take into account the inertia associated with past technological and institutional choices that may hinder future changes. Relying on the concept of socio-technical lock-in, we illustrate this point with the case of the diffusion of distributed generation technologies. Based on this analysis, we propose an adaptation of the alignment framework in order to integrate these elements.