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Social innovation for energy transition
What can we do to contribute to the acceleration of the renewable energy transition?
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Green energy: Two workers check a street lamp that uses solar power on Teluk Harapan. (JP/Syafrizaldi)
E
nergy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan recently said Indonesia may not be able to achieve its goal to increase the share of new and renewable sources of energy to 23 percent in the country’s energy mix by 2025.
Indonesia has issued more than enough policies to attract investors to develop new and renewable energy. However, the response is slow as traditional fuels are still relatively cheaper.
He also argued that despite the price getting lower and that the technology is available, the development of renewable energy would still take time. Then what can we do to contribute to the acceleration of the renewable energy transition?
Beside economic issues, societal acceptance topic is also important in the renewable energy transition. The energy transition includes macro-level innovations that often consist of a series of technological advancements. This is usually followed by changes in societies, their economic and social domains. Therefore, it requires social innovation.
Social innovation is various ways where people are finding new and more effective solutions and answers to actual problems. Social innovation acknowledges community participation. High levels of participation reflect a community’s acceptance towards social innovation that includes a business element. New business models on social innovation can result in profits in the form of livelihoods for local communities.
A collaboration of civil society and business actors with government agencies can help provide incentives for social innovation. The incentives address the economic issue.
It also stimulates change in citizen behavior, which implies that social innovation needs to be inserted into an economic structure of interdependencies between multiple actors. Therefore, citizens have a key role within the renewable-energy transition, especially in cities that are a good target for social innovation because it has well-educated citizens who could see the use of fossil fuels as a problem.
