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Two anecdotes

Winter, 1921. An extraordinary drought in Northern Italy reduced hydro-electricity yields and threatened the industries in Italy’s economic heartland. Swiss and French power companies came to the rescue: Swiss hydroelectricity was exported to Italy, Switzerland interrupted its exports to France, and French coal power stations now supplied power to Zurich and Geneva. These emergency measures were only possible due to recent interconnections of the French, Swiss and Italian power systems. The League of Nations used this example to argue for further integration of electricity networks across national borders, in particular in Europe (ATCCT 1922).

IP aims and objectives

These two anecdotes on electric power exchange across the Swiss-Italian border  may serve to introduce two important transnational interdependencies that were constructed during the 20th century, and which are crucial to this CRP.

First, electricity networks in Europe were to a large extend interconnected. Europe's electrical integration – largely invisible to the broader public – brought advantages, such as enabling emergency supplies to industries and citizens in neighbouring countries. Ironically, the very same transnational networks that may come to the rescue when local power blackouts happen, have also introduced new types of (transnational) vulnerabilities and risks:power failures may now cascade from one country to another within a matter of seconds.

Second, this electrical transborder interdependency was mirrored in economic and social interdependencies. During the 20th century electricity became an omnipresent and vital infrastructure; few sectors of society (including other infrastructures) require electricity to function properly. As a result, power failures in one country may today cause not only blackouts in other countries, but also associated disruptions in economic and social life at huge costs.

This IP will examine the historical shaping of these two related interdependencies – the transnational interlacing of electric power networks and the intertwinement of electricity supply and economic and social life – and how these changed over time. Focus is on the period from ca. 1945 until now, including the challenges posed by the processes of liberalisation and privatisation, which stretched the use of transnational power links– designed chiefly for emergency supply and incidental exchanges – to its limits.

  The IP will ask questions such as: Which interdependencies were built into Europe’s transnational sociotechnical power systems, technically and institutionally? How did international network organizations as the UCPTE (1951) in Western Europe, Nordel (1963) in Scandinavia, and the CDO/IPS (1962) in Central Eastern Europe build and interpret such interdependencies? How did they interpret issues of reliability and failure in emerging transnational power systems? How did they interpret economic and societal dependencies on transnational power systems? How did they anticipate failures, in terms of system architecture and institutional/governance arrangements? How did transnational interdependencies vary in these three electrical regions? How did actual power failures expose transnational interdependencies as well as interdependencies between electricity supply and economic and social life.

Methodology

This IP has two research entries.

First, we investigate international organizations concerned with issues of transnational reliability and interdependency of electricity supply from the outset. Unlike much transnational history, current history of technology scholarship investigates infrastructure­related international organisations not from an institutional history perspective (which tends to remain rather internal and organizational), but also examines how such organizations actually engaged with the shaping of systems and their institutional embedding. For instance, the notion of Europe’s system builders sees such organizations as a privileged research site to study transnational issues, as well as arena’s where many stakeholders articulate and negotiate the sociotechnical shaping of systems. Studying international organizations as the UCPTE, Nordel and the CDO/IPS from this perspective will show how issues of transnational interdependencies were interpreted and negotiated and built into technological and institutional arrangements. Relevant archives are: the Historical Archives of the European Community (Florence), the Archive of the European Commission (Brussels), the private archive of the UCTE (Brussels), and the archive of Nordel (Stockholm), and the archive of CDO/IPS (Moscow). Furthermore, interviews will be conducted with former and current employees of e.g. the UCTE, UNIPEDE/Eurelectric (a lobby group), and the EG/EC Energy Directorate.

Second, we shall complement this top-down approach by a bottom-up approach looking at actual power failures to inquire the interdependencies of electricity supply and social and economic life, as well as the role of transnational interdependencies in failures. Since the implications of transnational power interdependencies can be local, this includes investigating national and local sources.

Cross-IP collaboration

The inquiry of transnational interdependencies and risks in 3 electrical regions requires international collaboration of research groups. In this CRP, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, and Bulgarian participants’ research experience and language skills will be pooled to investigate both the UCPTE, Nordel, and CDO/IPS regions. Some of this IP work will be delegated to CRP partners. In return, this IP will assist partner Ips, e.g. by looking at transnational gas networks originating in the Netherlands.