Research on sustainability transitions has expanded rapidly in the last ten years, diversified in terms of topics and geographical applications, and deepened with respect to theories and methods. This article provides an extensive review and an updated research agenda for the field, classified into nine main themes: understanding transitions; power, agency and politics; governing transitions; civil society, culture and social movements; businesses and industries; transitions in practice and everyday life; geography of transitions; ethical aspects; and methodologies. The review shows that the scope of sustainability transitions research has broadened and connections to established disciplines have grown stronger. At the same time, we see that the grand challenges related to sustainability remain unsolved, calling for continued efforts and an acceleration of ongoing transitions. Transition studies can play a key role in this regard by creating new perspectives, approaches and understanding and helping to move society in the direction of sustainability.

In this paper we present a literature review of studies that have analysed the troublesome trajectory of different renewable energy technologies (RETs) development and diffusion in different, mainly European countries. We present an overview of typical systemic problems in the development of innovation systems around RETs. We make use of the literature on innovation system failures to develop a categorisation of typical systemic problems that hamper the development and diffusion of RETs. Based on this categorisation the paper suggests several policy recommendations to overcome the systemic problems and accelerate the diffusion and implementation of RETs.

Societal transitions involve multiple actors, changes in institutions, values and technologies, and interactions across multiple sectors and scales. Given this complexity, this paper takes on the view that the societal transitions research field would benefit from the further maturation and broader uptake of modelling approaches. This paper shows how modelling can enhance the understanding of and support stakeholders to steer societal transitions. It discusses the benefits modelling provides for studying large societal systems and elaborates on different ways models can be used for transitions studies. Two model applications are presented in some detail to illustrate the benefits. Then, limitations of modelling societal transitions are discussed, which leads to an agenda for future activities: (1) better cooperation in the development of dynamic models, (2) stronger interaction with other transition scholars and stakeholders, and (3) use of additional modelling approaches that we think are relevant to and largely unexplored in transitions studies

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a b s t r a c tProfitable business models for value creation and value capture with smart grid services are pivotal to realize the transition to smart and sustainable electricity grids. In addition to knowledge regarding the technical characteristics of smart grids, we need to know what drives companies and consumers to sell and purchase services in a smart grid. This paper reviews 45 scientific articles on business models for smart grid services and analyses information on value in 434 European and US smart grid pilot projects. Our review observes that the articles and pilots most often discuss three types of smart grid services: vehicle-to-grid and grid-to-vehicle services, demand response services, and services to integrate renewable energy (RE). We offer a classification of business models, value creation and capture for each of these services and for the different actors in the electricity value chain. Although business models have been developed for grid-to-vehicle services and for services that connect RE, knowledge regarding demand response services is restricted to different types of value creation and capture. Our results highlight that business models can be profitable when a new actor in the electricity industry, that is, the aggregator, can collect sufficiently large amounts of load. In addition, our analysis indicates that demand response services or vehicle-to-grid and grid-to-vehicle services will be offered in conjunction with the supply of RE.