In the last years the signficance of the dicourse on renewable energies has continuously increased. There is a growing consensus in European society on the importance of an energy turnaround by the expansion of renewable energies. Simultaneously the number of actors has risen and the discourse itself got more complex and confusing. It became the stage of a structural conflict. The former concept of an energy turnaround – to provide small scale decentralized solutions related to a shift of

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... n in society that may lead to a sustainable abandonment of the obsolete conventional energy system – is losing ground. The project Desertec, meant to deliver solar energy from the desert to Europe, marks the intervention of a large-scale technical solution, provided by actors conform to the econmic structures, in the discourse of renewable energies. It therefore changes the basic orientation of the discourse. This diploma thesis focusses on the analysis of the turnaround in renewable energies by underlining the formation of discourse coalitions. Based on Maarten Hajer's discourse-analytical approach and Willy Viehöver's approach of 'Narrativization' key terms, metaphors, narratives and methods are analized regarding their discoursive significance. They shed light on the strategic positionning of actors and the summarization of common narratives that build the centre of the different disourse coalitions. The Turnaround of the discourse on renewable energies is represented with the help of the formation of a powerful and influental discourse coalition around the Desertec project.