Data collection

Simons (2014: 457) argues that case study research needs to be ‘research based, inclusive of different methods and is evidence led’. Moreover, case study research has to include a wide variety of evidence that range from documents, artefacts, interviews and observations (Yin

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2014). Following this, the validity of this research relied upon the triangulation of multiple forms of evidence (Yin 2009, 2014). This helped to build converging narratives from different interviews and secondary documentation and disparities and contradictions of evidence, when necessary, have been clarified with follow-up interviews with key informants and validating data in the form of asking frequent check questions.

This research draws upon an extensive review of the academic literature, press reports and policy documents to build up a detailed picture of the theoretical considerations associated with the transformation of energy systems towards sustainability with particular attention to RE deployment at the regional level. This also helps to identify how regional actors interact with the national and international scales. This has allowed for the identification of the main actors and the different regional governance frameworks in RE sectors within the selected regions.

More specifically, secondary data collection focussed a) on the investigation of existing regional/national policy frameworks and b) on a review of RE deployment and innovation activities in the different regional settings under investigation. Adopting a Regional Innovation System approach (Braczyk et al. 1998), this review ranged from an overview of the regional institutional infrastructure (governance, the innovative capacity and financial resources), the specific regional networks of innovators, local clusters and research institutions and internal and external knowledge flows. The secondary data review also helped identify how narratives, and shared expectations, of natural resources abundance and innovation in RE are constructed and mobilised and by whom.

63 Table 3.4 Interviews conducted²⁹

Organisation type

Government Industry Research (public or private)

Italy National

ENEA, National agency for new technologies energy and sustainable economic

development

CNR (National Research Council) institute of geosciences and earth resources

ENEL Research Centre (Global Generation Division)

Horizon 2020 Representative for Italy in the area of Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy

Regional Tuscany

Regione Toscana (Regional

Government) DTE Toscana (technological districts for Energy Toscana Region)

Magma Energy Italy, geothermal 40 South Energy, marine/ wave energy

CRIBE, Research Centre for Biomass energy, Pisa university, Department of Civil and Industrial engineering

Scuola Superiore Sant Anna, Innovation and Renewable Energy Research Group

Sardinia Regione Sardegna (Regional

Government) Confindustria Nord Sardegna,

Manufacturing and services association

29 The position and contact details of the interviewees have been omitted for confidentiality purposes.

64 Apulia ARTI, Agenzia regionale per la

tecnologia e l’innovazione (Apulia Development Agency)

Regione Puglia- Regional Government

Vestas, Wind Energy- Manufacturer Tara Renewable Energy, Energy efficiency and smart buildings

CREA, Centro Ricerche Energia e Ambiente, Lecce University

Foggia University, Economics Department

Organisation type

Government Industry Research (public or private)

United kingdom National Department of Energy and Climate Change

Regional Wales

Welsh Government Natural Resources Wales Cardiff Council

Tidal Energy ltd

Pembrokeshire Marine Energy

Tidal Power Lagoon (Swansea Bay Lagoon)

RWE Innogy (Wales) Wind Energy Renewable UK Cymru

Swansea University Marine Energy Group

Scotland Scottish Government

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The research included semi-structured exploratory interviews. Interviews, according to Creswell (2009) are highly suitable for exploratory as well as explanatory research questions with the aim being to ascertain how certain processes unfold and outcomes are achieved.

Thirty-two key regional and national stakeholders have been interviewed during the research³⁰. A list of organisations interviewed is presented in Table 3.4. Leading participants were identified through a scoping exercise, using the experience and knowledge of the researcher and a snow-balling technique (the initial key stakeholders may have knowledge of others stakeholders or initiatives in the area that were not covered in the initial scoping exercise; this was also facilitated through liaising with the host institution during one of the study visits, as discussed later).

As Table 3.4 shows, stakeholder participants have been chosen from different institutions and organisations involved in RE systems; these include policy makers, regional and national government representatives, institutions that supported innovation and RE development (e.g. development agency etc.), firms, and private and research institutions.

The interviews offered the opportunity to collect more detailed information about recent RE deployment and policy frameworks at national and regional levels. The interviews explored actors’ activities that are often not documented and actors’ perceptions of the role of natural resources and narratives developed around natural resource exploitation. The interviews were organised predominantly face-to-face and in the native language of the interviewees (English and Italian), and were recorded and transcribed.

In particular, both the interviews and the study visits (discussed in more detail in the next section) have focussed on the following:

• Identifying the relationships and shared expectations that foster RE deployment among different actors in different regional settings;

• Exploring how local/regional actors and institutions overlap and are connected with national and transnational networks;

• Identifying the role that the regional, national and international policy frameworks play in supporting RE deployment and how it differs across the regions;

30 To some extent, some could argue that the number of interviews conducted is limited in size. I conform to Crouch and McKenzie (2006)’s suggestion that small scale interview-based research is ‘intentionally conceptually generative’ and aimed to ‘indicate rather than conclude’ (2006: 492).

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• Exploring the role and influence that regional resource endowments play in RE deployment dynamics;

• Providing comparative material on the deployment of RE in different contexts of climate and endowment of natural resources.