Energy transition: innovation strategies of European electricity groups.

Summary In Europe, the energy transition in the electricity sector is unique from both a geographical and a historical point of view. On the one hand, it is part of a dual process of technological addition and substitution. On the other hand, it calls on electricians to move away from the thermal paradigm and to mobilize new knowledge to do so. The aim of this research is to characterize the innovation strategies implemented by the six largest European electricity groups (EDF, Enel, Engie, E.ON, Iberdrola and RWE) and at the sector level. Based on patents filed between 2007 and 2013 and on collaborative projects conducted within the framework of FP7, we analyze the technological strategies that concern the direction of progress and the knowledge acquisition strategies that concern the approach mobilized by electric utilities to introduce low-carbon technologies. We show that, at the sector level, addition technologies are favored over substitution technologies and that substitution technologies are less open than addition technologies. Furthermore, it appears that the electricity companies with the highest emissions are not those that have the most pronounced strategy of technological substitution. On the other hand, they are the most open to acquiring new knowledge.