The cloud has wires: Toward circular governance of smart grids

Smart grids are widely promoted as efficient, low-carbon solutions for energy transitions, yet their governance often treats digital infrastructure as immaterial and uniformly beneficial. This obscures the material, temporal, and justice dimensions that shape real-world outcomes. We introduce Circular Grid Governance (CGG), a framework that integrates circular-economy principles, lifecycle thinking, and energy justice, and apply it to Sweden's smart-grid development. Organized around three analytical layers (material–temporal, social, institutional), we compare 26 consultant reports with 19 interviews across public, private, and research sectors. Consultant reports emphasize digital optimization and system efficiency, while practitioners foreground mineral dependencies, depreciation-driven asset turnover, digital exclusion, and fragmented coordination. Two central governance priorities emerge. First, lifecycle synchronization: aligning regulatory, financial, and technical lifetimes to avoid premature replacement of still-functional assets. Second, equity- and circularity-by-design: embedding affordability, access, procedural safeguards, and circular requirements into rules, procurement, and program design from the outset. We identify actionable governance levers, including depreciation reform, circular procurement and reuse certification, and renter-inclusive participation. CGG offers a practical lens for steering digital energy transitions toward material durability, social inclusion, and institutional integration. Grounded in Swedish evidence, the framework is advanced as an adaptable heuristic for other digitalizing infrastructures. • Introduction of Circular Grid Governance framework for sustainable smart energy systems. • Integration of circular economy, lifecycle, and energy justice frameworks. • Reveals material, temporal, and equity gaps in Swedish smart-grid governance. • Proposes lifecycle synchronization and circular procurement reforms. • Offers actionable levers for durable, inclusive digital energy transitions