Integrating spatial planning and energy policy in The Netherlands: challenges and lessons for societal energy transitions

• Electrification surge in Europe leads to grid congestion, necessitating strategic planning. • Spatial planning mediates development of renewable energy sites, balancing societal interests. • Understanding problems through Niklas Luhmann’s social systems theory. • Introducing three types of irritations to understand the interactions: incomprehensible, inapt and interpretive irritations. • Need for energy transition paths acknowledging dual nature of planning and strategy. Despite The Netherlands' advanced spatial planning system and robust energy infrastructure, attempts to integrate energy policy and spatial planning for energy transition faced significant challenges. This paper examines these efforts and their impact on both systems within nation-wide discussions, using social systems theory to explore why a cohesive strategy failed to emerge. It draws on Luhmann’s theory of social systems and his concept of irritations, combined with a theory-informed thematic analysis, to understand the communications and perturbations between energy planning and spatial planning. The paper argues that the planning and energy systems were unable to adequately understand and coordinate with each other, partly due to the lack of a unifying perspective and the inherent tensions within each system. These challenges hindered the formulation of effective energy transition strategies on a policy level. To distinguish between the degree to which communications of energy planning organizations successfully initiated internal reflections on and revisions of spatial planning organizations’ interests, operations, and priorities, we introduced three types of perturbations, so-called ‘irritations’: incomprehensible, inapt and interpretive irritations. The Dutch experience offers broader insights into the complexities of aligning spatial planning with energy policy in the pursuit of energy transition.