Business Models for Energy Suppliers Aggregating Flexible Distributed Assets and Policy Issues Raised

Jan Martin Specht () and Reinhard Madlener
Additional contact information
Jan Martin Specht: E.ON Energy Research Center, Future Energy Consumer Needs and Behavior (FCN), http://www.fcn.eonerc.rwth-aachen.de/

No 7/2018, FCN Working Papers from E.ON Energy Research Center, Future Energy Consumer Needs and Behavior (FCN)

Abstract: The ongoing digitalization of the energy sector opens up opportunities for novel business models, which can help to overcome challenges that accompany the transition towards a sustainable energy supply. One necessity in a more decentralized energy system with high shares of renewables is the provision of flexibility. This paper uses the business model generation approach of Osterwalder and Pigneur (2010) to understand the challenges of the transition towards distributed power generation for energy suppliers. The insights gained indicate that the focus of business models in the electricity supply market has to switch to an offer-driven perspective. To this end, the business model of an “Energy Supplier 2.0” as a dedicated aggregator of flexible capacities on the household level is investigated. It is found that the aggregation of flexibilities can provide additional revenue streams, extra customer comfort, support for grid operators, and reduce society’s costs for the sustainable energy transition process. Despite these promising advantages, and even though early movers indicate economic interest, we find that the current regulation and policies bear obstacles for a broad diffusion of this type of business models in the energy sector. We identify several obstacles and suggest solutions how to overcome legislative hurdles where possible.

Keywords: Energy Supplier 2.0; Utility of the Future; Business Model Generation; Flexibility; Distributed Energy; Virtual Power Plant (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H23 L94 M21 Q21 Q48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 32 pages
Date: 2018-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene and nep-reg
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.fcn.eonerc.rwth-aachen.de/global/show_document.asp?id=aaaaaaaaabbhfvm Full text (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:fcnwpa:2018_007

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in FCN Working Papers from E.ON Energy Research Center, Future Energy Consumer Needs and Behavior (FCN) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Hendrik Schmitz ().