Unpacking Energy Decentralisation in European Countries: Conceptualisations in National Climate and Energy Plans and Strategies

This chapter analyses how the concept of energy decentralisation is integrated into European Union (EU) countries’ official national roadmaps for energy system transformations—specifically the National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) for 2030 and Long-Term Strategies (LTSs) for 2050. A systematic review was undertaken of 28 NECP and LTS documents to compare member states’ varying approaches, definitions, motivations and extent of prioritisation of decentralisation in pivotal policy outlooks guiding energy transitions. Analysis reveals significant diversity in decentralisation perspectives across EU nations. Searching for “decentralisation” stems surfaced 313 mentions, encompassing varied expressions from distributed generation, infrastructure and technologies to decentralised management, governance and participation. While most members emphasise technical dimensions around localised renewable energy, some frame decentralisation more broadly as profoundly disrupting conventional centralised paradigms across economic, political and social systems. Findings reveal multiplicity in strategic pathways that decentralisation encompasses. As transitions progress, coherent alignment around decentralisation’s complex nature will benefit cooperative European decarbonisation under rising decentralisation. Comparative analysis exposes nuances between short- and long-term roadmaps. This synthesises important insights into EU members’ diverse transitional outlooks, elucidating trends and implications of the bloc’s envisioned decentralised shift.