This study explores the impact of financing rules on energy system financing dynamics and the implications for niche innovation and energy transitions. Using an instrumental case study underpinned by critical realism, it draws on primary data from financiers and innovators in South Africa to propose a set of financing meta-rules, identify tensions in varying institutional contexts, and suggest multi-dimensional system impacts. The study introduces the concept of to link institutional pillars to financing rules and mechanisms. It also offers a framework of five financing rule domains that present critical institutional contexts which system actors navigate. Findings highlight the exclusionary nature of financing rules, the steering influence of development and philanthropic financing, and the need for further conceptualising innovation in transitions context. Future research could explore and develop the institutional characteristics of financing rule domains, consider reciprocal niche influences, and clarify the underlying power dynamics of financing actors in energy transitions. Moreover, theorising finance as a social system distinct from production and consumption systems may yield new modalities of niche-regime interactions and empowerment for understanding financing phenomena.

中文翻译：

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能源转型中利基创新的融资动态：南非的视角

本研究探讨了融资规则对能源系统融资动态的影响以及对利基创新和能源转型的影响。它利用以批判现实主义为基础的工具性案例研究，利用南非金融家和创新者的主要数据，提出一套融资元规则，识别不同制度背景下的紧张局势，并提出多维系统影响。该研究引入了将制度支柱与融资规则和机制联系起来的概念。它还提供了一个由五个融资规则领域组成的框架，呈现了系统参与者所驾驭的关键制度背景。研究结果强调了融资规则的排他性、发展和慈善融资的引导影响，以及在转型背景下进一步概念化创新的必要性。未来的研究可以探索和发展融资规则领域的制度特征，考虑相互的利基影响，并阐明能源转型中融资参与者的潜在权力动态。此外，将金融理论化为一种不同于生产和消费系统的社会系统，可能会产生利基-政权互动的新模式，并赋予理解金融现象的权力。