Co-creation as a new approach to wind energy development? A systematic literature review

Co-creation as an innovation paradigm is increasingly being promoted as a way to more responsible and creative innovation processes. At the same time, development of more renewable energy capacity, in particular wind energy, continues to face local, social contention, leading scholars, politicians and practitioners alike to call for more legitimacy in development processes. For research and practice, public participation and engagement has been the method of choice, but alternative approaches as cocreation start to gain attention as well. Thus, exploring the promises that the co-creation paradigm as ‘idea, promise and practice’ holds for the energy transition seems fruitful. However, literature on co-creation in relation to wind energy development lacks a systematic understanding of what the concept means and implies in the context of energy transitions. This involves questions such as: How is the concept defined and what are its limitations and capabilities? Which stakeholders are relevant? Is co-creation a tool, method or an objective in itself? In order to advance the researchagenda, this paper presents a systematic review of 43papers that refer to co-creation (and co-production) in relation to wind energy development. The paper maps and discusses different understandings of the concept and the stakeholder relations inherent in these conceptualizations. We find that the concept is employed in three different ways: to analyze successful innovations in wind energy systems, as a design principle guiding the governance of decisions and processes connected to development of more wind energy, and to imagine and structure future sociotechnical systems in alternative ways. Dependent on the use, different relations within socio-technicalsystems emerge that question the distribution of power and agency among actors.