Forty years ago, a wind power industry did not exist. Today, it not only exists but it flourishes. This development is surprising because it has involved the spread of a radical new technology through a sector that is historically both very risk averse and characterized by high barriers to entry.
This work tries to explain the success of wind power by examining existing historical studies, quantitative data sources, and a set of original interviews with key industry participants. It uses ideas from two sociological subfields - Social Construction of Technology and New Institutionalism - to go...