Has activation run out of steam? Three imagined flexible publics in the Norwegian smart grid transition

Expectations for technology development often contain taken-for-granted ideas about how groups of people will either adopt these technologies or endorse the policies meant to support the technology development. This article explores how such imagined publics (Walker et al. 2010) figure in Norwegian energy professionals’ expectations for making electricity use increasingly flexible in its timing. We find that previously predominant expectations towards activating a public of energy demand managers have become nuanced and uncertain. Instead, the neatest package of expectations was towards a future Internet-of-Things arrangement where emerging aggregators remotely control fleets of energy-intensive household technologies. In addition, the fear that flexible consumption might not resonate beyond extra-interested users had led to innovating for a third, more situated public. We discuss the shift of expectations as a dynamic and contextual process rather than as a direct consequence of an increase in technological potential. We contend that the uncertainty of engaging the public in flexible consumption has been managed by shifting the realization of expectations further into the future. We note that currently, publics are not being engaged in flexibility development as more than consumers, which may complicate the goal of flexibility becoming a key characteristic of future energy systems. • Expectations for flexible consumption co-evolve with the imagination of its publics • The three imagined publics of flexible consumption cover both dominant and alternative imaginations of a flexibly consuming public • The future smart grid public is being reconfigured as passive and disinterested • Working for goals far in the future can be done to manage uncertainties of innovation • We discuss downsides of continued focus on far-away visions over innovating for a situated public