About

The Project

In 2019, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced the closure of lignite mines in Western Macedonia by 2027 and Greece’s ‘transition’ to renewable energies (solar, wind, hydrogen). This technical change is presented as a solution to the issues raised by climate change: preserving the environment while maintaining growth through the development of a green economy.

In the region of Western Macedonia, characterised by the economic monoculture introduced by PPC at the end of the 1950s, job losses are expected to be massive. They will affect not only the energy sector but all the industries and services that had developed around it. To answer concerns raised by the workers and their representatives, the government announced the creation of a ‘renewable energy hub’ to which local jobs and skills will be transferred.

But ‘transition’ does not simply mean the use of new resources or technologies, it’s not simply a technical change, it’s a different way of working: from lignite mines to solar and wind farms, there are not the same numbers of workers, the same contracts, the same functions, the same materials and the same tools, etc. How do these forms of work influence relations between colleagues, with the hierarchy and in trade union struggles?

The energy transition is also about the emergence of new actors: citizens, who do not work in the field of energy production, but want to participate in the decisions that affect them. Since 2018, and the introduction of a dedicated legal framework by the European Union, we have seen the development of renewable energy communities that enable citizens’ associations to manage the production and distribution of renewable energy from local infrastructures. At the same time, an increasing number of industrial-scale renewable energy projects, particularly those installed on farmland or in natural areas, are being challenged by citizens’ collectives denouncing their deleterious effects on the environment and society. How are these new players transforming the relationship between energy producers and consumers?

This research discusses changes in the political relations that are structured around energy production. It examines the new constraints weighing on workers, but also the possible futures that are emerging in the experiences of solidarity that unite them with consumers.

By bringing together a wide range of viewpoints, all of which have one thing in common: they emanate from the grassroots of society, the aim is to seek for a multi-voiced account of a change whose direction we have yet to define.

Would you like to take part in the survey? You can answer this anonymous questionnaire and let me know if you would be available for an interview.

Who am I?

My name is Margot Verdier and I am a fieldwork sociologist from France. I have taught for 5 years in French universities and I am now an independent researcher based in Greece. My research’ interests vary from work in the energy transition, to the organisational practices of anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian social struggles, and the ethics of scientific research. My first book Le commun de l’autonomie published in 2021, examines the possibility of an ‘anti-authoritarian’ form of collective life where equality and individual freedom are placed on an equal footing. I have also published articles about the ethics of fieldwork research focusing on participants’ identity and data protection. My current work – the subject of this website – studies the evolution of the energy production system and its impact on energy workers and broader socio-political relationships.

How is this project financed?

The research received the Independent Scholar Fellowship 2024 granted by the Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF). Based in the Netherlands, the ISRF is a public benefit foundation funded in 2008 by a group of philanthropists aiming at supporting independent researchers to explore original approaches of « real world social problems » (more info here: https://www.isrf.org/#about).

The research is hosted by the School of Political Science at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (more info here: https://www.polsci.auth.gr/en/basic_page_polsci/the-school-of-political-sciences/).

How do I work?

This research aims at understanding how energy workers and other emerging actors in the sector, such as members of energy communities, experience the energy transition. Therefore, the main method is the interview. The interviews do not follow a questions and answers’ logic, but take the form of a conversation between the researcher and the participant around different themes (this is what is known as a semi-structured interview in sociological jargon).

Respect for participants is at the basis of the survey’s ethics. Their identities and personal data are protected and are never communicated to a third party, whether a private company or a public institution.