Business Model Changes in District Heating: The Impact of the Technology Shift from the Third to the Fourth Generation

Kristina Lygnerud
Additional contact information
Kristina Lygnerud: The School of Business, Engineering and Science, Halmstad University, P.O. Box 823, SE 30118 Halmstad, Sweden

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 9, 1-16

Abstract: This paper addresses the implications on the business model of district heating companies of the technology shift targeting lower temperatures in the distribution network. Lower temperatures are valuable, since heat supply to low-energy buildings with low grid losses is facilitated. In addition, low-temperature heat sources can be integrated into an efficient energy system, improving the environmental performance of the industry. This technology shift opens a window of opportunity to update the business logic in the sector, since the lower temperatures allow a diversification of the value proposed to customers and a closer, long-term customer relationship. The extent to which the business model is impacted by the shift is not known. Thus, six cases of low temperature implementation from five European countries have been identified. Interviews with the project managers of the implementations show that the six cases made limited change to the primary business model when making the technological shift. Consequently, there is an unexplored potential for updating the value proposition and the customer relationship.

Keywords: district heating; low temperature; fourth-generation technology; business model change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/9/1778/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/9/1778/ (text/html)

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:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:9:p:1778-:d:229995

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().