Fengfu Mao, Jing Lin, Yuqiao Hou
Energy decentralization signifies a fundamental shift in energy production and governance from conventional, centralized systems towards distributed, localized, and end-user-centric paradigms. This transition is of paramount importance for advancing energy efficiency and bolstering energy security. Employing bibliometric analysis and literature review methodologies, we utilize CiteSpace to delineate the intellectual landscape, research hotspots, and evolutionary trends within the energy decentralization literature from 2008 to 2024, based on the Web of Science (WoS) core collection. Our analysis reveals that: ①Robust collaborative networks exist at the international and institutional levels, while scholars tend to form distinct collaborative clusters. China, USA, and Denmark emerge as prominent contributors to the field. ②The research landscape is thematically diverse, with focal points on emerging technology applications, energy management and optimization, and energy governance and institutional arrangements. ③Prospectively, future research is poised to concentrate on the coordination mechanisms between technology diffusion and institutional alignment, the trade-off between community energy expansion and distributive justice, and the interplay between energy system resilience and governance constraints. The dynamic knowledge map constructed herein provides a scientific foundation for understanding the academic trajectory of the energy decentralization field and for identifying promising avenues for future research.