This study addresses the critical challenge of prioritizing participatory energy governance strategies for sustainable development, particularly within the context of developing nations. Facing escalating energy demands and the urgent need for climate action, effectively ranking and diagnosing governance approaches is paramount for a successful renewable energy transition. To achieve this, the research employs a novel hybrid methodology, integrating Neural Network Models (NNM) for robust strategy prioritization with Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) to formulate prescriptive policy measures. This quantitative modeling is enriched by qualitative expert insights derived from a rigorous Delphi method. The findings provide a nuanced, structural evaluation of current governance frameworks. Notably, strategies such as “strengthening multi-level energy governance” and “expanding solar energy usage through citizen participation” demonstrate both high importance and high performance. These succeed primarily as “soft governance” mechanisms that foster local trust and community empowerment. Conversely, critically important strategies like “developing rural energy networks” and “creating financial incentives for clean energy” exhibit severe performance deficits. A deeper root-cause analysis reveals that these bottlenecks stem from prohibitive financial costs and governmental capacity constraints, rather than a lack of social acceptance. Furthermore, the study identifies significant risks of institutional inertia—where resources are misallocated to overperforming but low-priority sectors—while highlighting the context-dependent value of niche strategies like localized biomass. Ultimately, this research underscores the necessity of decentralized local governance. It provides a data-driven framework urging policymakers to pivot from conventional top-down approaches toward targeted interventions, such as innovative public-private partnerships (PPPs) and decentralized micro-financing, to ensure an equitable and sustainable energy transition. • A hybrid NNM–IPA framework is developed to prioritize participatory energy governance strategies. • Expert-informed Delphi analysis provides a nuanced diagnosis of governance performance gaps. • Multi-level governance and citizen-driven solar adoption show both high importance and high performance. • Critical strategies such as rural energy networks and clean-energy financial incentives suffer major deficits. • Findings highlight the need for decentralized governance and targeted PPP-based interventions.
Abdolhosseinzadeh et al. (Fri,) studied this question.