Margarita Balmaceda1; 1 Harvard University, United States
Discussion
Recent changes both in terms of the contractual organization of energy supply in broader Europe as well as of the drive towards decarbonization force us to rethink traditional conceptualizations of energy space and of the actors and interests behind these. Taking as a case study the supply/value chain of energy production, transportation/processing, and final supply from production in traditionally peripheral areas of Russia to final consumers in Germany and other EU states (as well as the leftovers, externalities and waste products produced by these), this paper interrogates the ways in which our traditional conception of energy space as a linear, clearly demarcated space has been co-created by political and geopolitical systems and specitic actor constellations behind them. In doing so, it also proposes new ways of looking at energy space and at the actors and nodes that help shape transit through it. By introducing the concept of contractual and regulatory nodes as no less impactful than traditionally-conceptualized physical nodes, we seek to understand new forms of governing this space and its value chains more in tune with new political and climate policy realities. These different understandings of energy space also have important implications for regionalism trends, as the ways we conceptualize energy space are both reflections of dominant arrangements involving power, flows and control, and also may create conditions for their reordering.
