CenSES’ research objective was to conduct research that supported public and private decision makers in strategic decisions and policies that could promote environment-friendly energy technologies and lead to a sustainable energy system. The main objective was to strengthen the understanding of the economic, political, social and cultural aspects of the development and introduction of renewable energy and environmental technology.

Read CenSES' project description

CenSES research is organized into five research areas:

1. Policy making and transition strategies.
2. Energy systems and markets.
3. Economic analysis
4. Innovation and commercialization.
5. Scenario development.

CenSES focuses on social studies of energy:

• Knowledge on how user behaviour and acceptance of technology affect investments
• Models for energy systems and markets indicating local and regional requirements
• Suggestions for instruments advancing the energy sector's ability for innovation and commercialisation of new technology
• Improved understanding of the opportunities of developing today's energy system through synergies between various energy carriers, production technologies and frame conditions and how this affects welfare and value creation
• Improved knowledge about relations between industry's competitiveness, energy policy and economic policy
• Development of energy scenarios for the future with social science researchers jointly providing holistic analyses rather than fragmented solutions.
• Provides innovation and dissemination arenas. We arrange different conferences and workshops throughout the year, and we have established a national PhD school in Social studies of energy.

Host institution: NTNU
Research Partners: IFE, VF, NHH, NTNU, SINTEF, SNF, UiO, HVL