Energy production and regional inequality: Quantitative analysis of energy production and consumption across regions in Spain, Poland, Germany and UK

All over the world, regions exist where energy production has led to great environmental impacts which have profound disadvantageous implications felt by communities around. These impacts are related to environmental degradation, human health impacts, displacements, social bonds destruction, land grabbing, water pollution or impacts on agriculture/food. Hence, the uneven concentration of energy production across regions often lead to a situation of territorial inequality within countries: non-producing regions depend on energy imports from other regions and they are advantageously exempt from the environmental cost of its production. On the contrary, producing regions pay the cost of overproduction which may lead to a process of peripheralization and fixation
of their role as mere energy exporter, as suggested by well-known dependency theories. On these grounds, this study aims to conduct a quantitative cross-national comparison of production/consumption of electricity across regions within Germany, Poland, Spain and UK. Data gathered reveals different patterns of distribution and pronounced asymmetry in some of the countries studied. Beyond the data gathered, this paper aims to reflect on the relationship between the nationwide geographical distribution of energy production and some of the most recent debates: urban/rural divide, rise of far-right parties and people’s sovereignty.