Implementing Hydrogen Projects in Complex Socio-Economic Environments

Frank Schiller (), Britta Kastens and Katharina Prehn
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Frank Schiller: Institute for the Transformation of the Energy System (ITE), Fachhochschule Westküste—University of Applied Sciences, Markt 18, D-25746 Heide, Germany
Britta Kastens: Institute for the Transformation of the Energy System (ITE), Fachhochschule Westküste—University of Applied Sciences, Markt 18, D-25746 Heide, Germany
Katharina Prehn: Institute for the Transformation of the Energy System (ITE), Fachhochschule Westküste—University of Applied Sciences, Markt 18, D-25746 Heide, Germany

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 11, 1-15

Abstract: Real-world laboratories have become important institutions of the energy transition in Germany and the EU. They represent innovation networks that integrate public and private actors in energy transition projects. In the past, they focused on urban districts, but, more recently, the real-world laboratories have been expanded to include large-scale, capital-intensive projects for the development of a hydrogen economy. This has increased the complexity of such projects and poses new challenges in contextualising the new form of real-world laboratories. This article analyses the response of one of the first of these new projects and how it dealt with this new organisational form at the project communication level. It shows that the co-creation of a common story shared by all project partners—or the lack of it—may be an early indicator of whether the necessary legitimacy from business, politics, and society can be gained.

Keywords: stakeholder legitimacy; energy narrative; hydrogen communication; energy transition; regional development; knowledge transfer; organisational form (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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