Ideas, Individuals and Institutions: Notion and Practices of a European Electricity System. (13th April 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: LAGENDIJK, VINCENT
• Editors: Kaiser, Wolfram; Patel, Kiran Klaus
• Is Part Of: Contemporary European history. Volume 27:Number 2(2018)
• Page Start: 202
• Page End: 220
• Publication Date: 2018-04-13
• Subjects: Europe -- History -- 1945- -- Periodicals; 940.5
• DOI: 10.1017/S0960777318000115
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0960-7773

Abstract

Abstract : Based upon extensive multi-archival research, this article traces the long lineage of the notion of European electricity network. Since the 1930s engineers and policy makers conceived of a geographical conception for rationalising and optimising electricity supply: a European one. This article purports that three vectors undergirded threads of continuity: institutional, intellectual and physical (technological networks). These vectors, and the actors involved in them, created strong path dependencies that kept the idea of a European system firmly on the agenda. Today's international electricity market of the European Union should be seen as an extension of this legacy.