Paper short abstract:

Based on an ethnographic 'intervention' study conducted at two off-grid villages in rural India, the paper presents a local model for p2p energy exchanges consisting of five distinct levels: ghar ('home'), makan ('house'), tola ('neighbourhood'), gaon ('village'), and bazaar ('market').

Paper long abstract:

The ongoing development of off-grid and decentralized renewable energy systems across the globe are enabling arenas for peer-to-peer (p2p) energy exchanges for emerging within villages and neighbourhoods. The existing energy literature on p2p energy exchanges is predominantly based on techno-economic notions built upon visions of rational choice approaches that assume p2p energy exchanges to be solitarily structured by the logic of market and values of efficiency, optimization, and maximization.

This paper critiques this dominant view of p2p energy exchanges and reports from an ethnographic 'intervention' study conducted at two off-grid villages in rural India for 11 months. This cross-disciplinary methodological approach draws upon the discourses of design anthropology, research through design, and ethnography. Moreover, the study utilizes theoretical perspectives from economic anthropology to understand the p2p energy exchanges that emerged with the 'intervention'.

Based on the analysis of the ethnographic data, the paper presents a local model for p2p energy exchanges consisting of five distinct levels: ghar ('home'), makan ('house'), tola ('neighbourhood'), gaon ('village'), and bazaar ('market'). The paper discusses how these levels of p2p energy exchanges, representing conceptual, social and material spaces, form a base for the emergence of distinct forms of energy exchanges and are shaped by diverse logics and values.