Reassembling Renewables from the Margin: Taiwan’s Experiences of Offshore Wind Farms in Green Transformation

PhD project by Tsai-ying Lu, supervisor: Prof. Dr. Cyrus Mody

Why would a developing country change its course toward green energy transition? What lies behind the moral claims of “guarding the Earth”? This research aims to illustrate the history of Taiwan’s offshore wind farms and accompanying socio-technological changes. It does so by mapping the Taiwanese wind energy industry’s trajectory from building a consensus that greater reliance on alternative energy industry would be in Taiwan’s national interest to the adaptation of the transferred technology to local economic, cultural, and geographical circumstances. Taiwan’s central position in global value chains and its marginal position in international diplomacy allow this research to use Taiwan’s experience as a probe to examine conventional explanations for why nations develop renewable energy and for how sociotechnical innovation proceeds in Asian contexts.