Renewing Risk Analysis for Renewable Energy Transitions

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A third of renewable energy projects don’t fail on budget or engineering — they fail on people.

Across the world, wind and solar projects that hit every technical and financial target are still being cancelled — stopped by the communities, markets and governments they need on side. In this article, Job Elzinga argues that social acceptance has become the real bottleneck of the energy transition, and that our risk management hasn’t caught up.

His answer is practical: fold the concept of energy justice into a method risk managers already trust — RISMAN — so that fairness, participation and recognition become risks you can actually spot, score and control for. The payoff isn’t only smoother projects. It’s a genuine edge for the consultants who learn to do it first.

About the author — Job Elzinga

Job works on large-scale infrastructure projects at TwynstraGudde (Netherlands), where he keeps complex programmes on track and turns dense information into clear, usable visualisations. He’s especially drawn to the social dynamics that decide whether a project succeeds — the lens he brings to renewable energy here.

The full paper walks through the argument step by step, with worked examples, diagrams and a complete risk-analysis template you can adapt.

Read the full article (pdf) ==>

Originally published in Cordence Young Professionals’ Network — The Insight Initiative — 1st Edition.