Energy technology assessment in managing sustainable energy transitions: A bibliometric analysis

Abstract

Energy technology assessment is a systematic evaluation of energy technologies, making it relevant in energy transition research. However, trends in energy technology assessment research remain largely unknown. Combining a bibliometric and content analysis of some key documents, this study explored the conceptual evolution of 2438 documents in energy technology assessment published from 1976 to 2023. The study used the Scopus database to collect data and analysed using Biblioshiny in RStudio, VosViewer and Microsoft Excel. The results show that ‘energy technology assessment’ has not developed as a unique field and remains rooted in the ‘technology assessment’ research. The annual growth rate of publications assessing energy technologies was 10.5% during the analysis period. One hundred and sixteen countries have contributed to the energy technology assessment research. The co-occurrence analysis results revealed four broad themes: ‘sustainable development’, ‘energy transition technologies’, ‘technology assessment methods’ and ‘energy system’. Surprisingly, the keyword ‘energy transition’ minimally features in the sampled documents but seems to be emerging. The diverse keywords observed indicate the interdisciplinary perspective required in assessing energy technologies. This study recommends theorising and positioning energy technology assessment research within the energy transition agenda to foster future growth.