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Paper short abstract:

Stakeholder involvement in long-term energy technology forecasting is vital for robust and accepted projections of the future. We want to investigate empirical examples for different perspectives and approaches to enhance the sustainable strategies for a complex future.

Paper long abstract:

While simulation models have been of great interest to STS for decades, studies that open energy modeling are sparse. We want to examine front-end input data for energy systems models, which often remain hidden in public debates (though often publicly available).

These data impact energy planning and environmental policies, as technologies with forecasted high costs may never be implemented. In this fashion, the input impacts the outputs of energy systems models and these models, play a vital role in the formulation of policies and our overarching vision of the future.

In this paper, we turn the inquiry into the publicness and public character of this input data. Which publics are and are not involved? why are they allowed or required to participate? and how does knowledge flow between the publics involved and the involvers?

Little literature surrounds this area. Our investigative literature review draws on interdisciplinary literature, from management science to engineering, and in addition to STS includes literature surrounding data generation for either policy-design, scenario-planning or system modelling.

Through the research question “Which methods, systems or approaches are applied, and why, when forecasting data of energy technologies?”, we aim to highlight thoughtful consideration when involving stakeholders when creating these data inputs. We aim to discuss the dynamics of public engagement, the reliance on stakeholder input, and critical reflections on power and inequalities in decision-making. We aim to offer insights that can refine the accuracy and robustness of energy system models and, the environmental, social end economic policies they shape.