“We don't have time”: How imaginaries of urgent energy system change marginalise locally driven pathways

Abstract

In this empirical study we examine the characteristics of energy systems change for Rwanda envisioned by actors seeking to drive transitions who are based both within and outside the country. We rely on empirical data from interviews (N = 62) and observations. We focus on electricity and cooking services as domains which actors including the Rwandan government are seeking to transform. Our study proposes two sociotechnical imaginaries of change. The first envisions rapid, large-scale and private sector-led adoption of externally developed technologies and priorities, aligning with global sustainability agendas. The second envisions a more gradual pathway co-produced by local actors. The first imaginary's dominance has material implications. It frames Rwanda as a recipient of technology from transnational actors, who co-produce the imaginary along with the government. From a critical standpoint, the first imaginary assigns a passive role to users and rural actors while prioritizing transnational actors in urban areas, reproducing coloniality. The second imaginary similarly adheres to modernist ideals of technoscientific advance and economic catch up. Nonetheless, making room for the second imaginary and actors who challenge the first imaginary may avoid transitions in Rwanda inevitably favouring externally developed technologies and knowledges. Promisingly, certain alternative perspectives imagine transitions with characteristics which disturb the coloniality and adherence to modernity perceptible in the two imaginaries. We invite transnational actors to reflect over their participation in the stabilisation and destabilisation of place-specific energy systems change imaginaries. From a policy perspective, we highlight tensions between ambitions to implement rapid energy transformations and to innovate technologies domestically.