Trine Pallesen, Copenhagen Business School
Peter Karnøe, Aalborg University
Susse Georg, Aalborg University
José Ossandón, Copenhagen Business School
Wind power in Denmark has developed from a marginal and vilified energy technology to become a key component of the green transition. As economic investment object, wind power’s history has been equally controversial. In this paper, we draw on Asdal and colleagues concept ‘the good economy’, to better understand these historical shifts (Asdal et al. 2021). ‘The good economy’ is an analytical tool for investigating how economic practice is entangled in versions of the good. In other words, it is a lens for exploring the specific ways in which the economic and the good are intertwined, and in their study, Asdal and colleagues demonstrate how that which is made to be good in the bioeconomy is radically different from what is made to be good in economies of the recent past. In this paper, we draw on this analytical tool to study the entanglements of good and economy surrounding wind power development in Denmark over the past 40 years. To do so, we study the three different support schemes (investment, payment and auction
based) developed around wind power, as distinct and peculiar economies, which allow us to discern not only the entanglements between the good and the economy, but also their possible conflicts. Support schemes are good instances to study these entanglements and ruptures, as they require justifications and provoke conflicts not only in relation to what is understood to be good but also the role of the economy vis-à-vis the realization of the good. They are at the same time visions of a good society and a critique of the current economy that prevents the good society from its realization.
