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Short abstract:

Our research delves into how the socio-historical context of Chemelot, a chemistry cluster in the Netherlands, conditions the trajectory of an initiative to turn away from fossil fuel. The paper details how the identity of the region shapes the direction of the project.

Long abstract:

Amidst the growing prevalence of the chemical industry in global economies, the sector faces pressing challenges, particularly regarding its reliance on fossil fuels and the associated CO2 emissions. Recent years have seen an upsurge in collaborative initiatives to tackle these issues. This research aims to investigate the internal dynamics of one such initiatives, namely the ISPA project at Chemelot, an industrial cluster in the south of the Netherlands. The project seeks to develop plasma chemistry as an alternative pathway based on electricity instead of fossil fuels. Focussing on this case, we investigate how the local socio-historical context of Chemelot shapes the direction of the ISPA initiative. By analyzing both contemporary and historical documents and interviewing industry members and local historians, we trace the narratives of both past and present energy transitions at Chemelot. A key ingredient of the narratives are the ‘identity’ of the cluster and the region at large, which connects representations of the past to desirable directions of the future. We highlight how the identity both enables and constrains the outlooks of the ISPA project. Paradoxically, the radical new emerges from an idealized past.