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The paper argues that potential insights into the emergence of more sustainable energy systems relevant to the promotion of energy security may be obtained from adopting neo-institutional theory. The paper suggests that a more comprehensive analytical approach is available compared with previous contributions, which tend to focus on institutions as governmental agencies and ‘regulative rules’. The paper thus outlines an approach to analysing institutional rules, carriers, processes and mechanisms, which is illustrated with reference to the emerging ‘organisational field’ of bioenergy for the generation of heat and power in the UK. The paper discusses implications of the above for understanding and improving energy security. The conclusion outlines the contours of future work on the prospects and difficulties associated with fully embedding the emerging organisational field of bioenergy and sustainable energy …