Between markets, politics and path-dependence: Explaining the growth of solar and wind power in six Central and Eastern European countries

This article contributes to the recent scholarly attempts towards bridging different energy studies perspectives in explaining the change of energy systems. Informed by political, socio-technical and techno-economic perspectives on energy transitions, we focus on explaining the divergent solar and wind power deployment rates across six Central and Eastern European countries. We suggest and test the proposition that the interplay of four key factors has shaped this development: state capacities, relations with Russia, technological lockin and electricity import dependency. We find that the countries relations towards Russia, the level of nuclear power lock-in and the state intervention in the energy sector have been instrumental in affecting the adoption of wind and solar power. The integrated framework and the findings presented in the article should encourage future energy transition research to capture and trace the interplay among different factors in an integrated and comparable manner. •Political feasibility of solar and wind power shaped by several structuring factors.•Closer relations to Russia and nuclear power lock-in constrain solar and wind power.•Diversified electricity mix and weaker state role conducive to solar and wind usage.•High electricity imports have not facilitated solar and wind power deployment.•Successful strategy for solar and wind diffusion must address multiple dimensions.