Innovative Business Models to Foster Transition (original) (raw)

Mainstreaming Energy Communities in the Transition to a Low-Carbon Future: A Methodological Approach

Energies

Innovations in technical, financial, and social areas are crucial prerequisites for an effective and sustainable energy transition. In this context, the construction of a new energy structure and the motivation of the consumer towards a change in their consumption behaviours to balance demand with a volatile energy supply are important issues. At the same time, Consumer Stock Ownership Plans (CSOPs) in renewable energies sources (RESs) have proven to be an essential cornerstone in the overall success of energy transition. Indeed, when consumers acquire ownership in RES, they become prosumers, participating in the phase of production and distribution of energy. Prosumers provide benefits by (1) generating a part of the energy they consume, (2) reducing their overall expenditure for energy, and (3) receiving a second source of income from the sale of excess production. Supporting Consumer Co-Ownership in Renewable Energies (SCORE) is an ongoing Horizon 2020 project with the aim of ove...

Harnessing social innovation for energy justice: A business model perspective ☆ A R T I C L E I N F O

This paper uses a business model framework to discuss how principles of energy justice-in particular, equitable distribution of costs and benefits, affordability, due process and greater participation in decision-making-can be embedded in business model innovations for energy, through social innovation. The paper discusses four cases at different scales (local, subnational, regional and global) to highlight opportunities for introducing principles of energy justice into the core of business models of companies. By doing so, the paper offers a critical perspective on the potential of business model innovation to be guided through a more broadly defined understanding of value enhanced by concepts of energy justice. The discussion of the four case studies-the Carbon Cooperative, Robin Hood Energy, RenEsco, and the Yansa Community Interest Company-highlights the importance of creating supportive wider environments for social and business model innovations, such as the development of skills, knowledge and social capital, through interventions coming from multiple levels and focused on different aspects of energy generation, supply and use (i.e. finance and technical implementation). Going against the grain of current policy, the study implies a shift away from upscaling innovations by taking them to the national scale, and towards creating supportive conditions for more local deals in different geographic locations.

Investigation of Community Energy Business Models from an Institutional Perspective: Intermediaries and Policy Instruments in Selected Cases of Developing and Developed Countries

Sustainability

Community energy development and the empowerment of customers as producers are the main contributors to decentralized market solutions in energy transition policy. Despite the growing literature on community energy projects from the perspectives of various business models, drivers, and barriers, few studies display the impact of institutional factors on the community energy business model configuration. Using insights from Ostrom’s institutional framework, this study develops a conceptual framework comprising policy instruments and the intermediaries that configure the various community energy business models, and it examines this framework in the developed world of northwestern European countries (Germany, Denmark, Belgium, and the UK) and in selected cases in developing countries (Rural Central America, South Africa, Iran, and Indonesia). The findings indicate that ambitious renewable energy consumption targets and national policies in northern EU countries have resulted in politi...

Social innovations for the energy transition

EUR - Scientific and Technical Research Reports, 2020

This report reflects upon the concept of social innovation and the way it is used in the energy sector. It does so by bringing together theoretical investigations and empirical knowledge. We aim to clarify the concept of social innovation in the energy sector by reviewing the literature and reflecting over a number of social innovation projects in Europe. The analysis of the projects against various contextual factors and their goals reveals the significant potential of social innovation on accelerating the energy transition while tackling societal problems. Energy production, energy efficiency and energy literacy are the main domains to which socially innovative activities contribute the most. High competences of project leadership and management observed though projects are often small in scale and context-dependent. This indicates that successful socially innovative energy initiatives require advanced bottom-up governance structures even if that may imply limitations for scaling up. This setting may complicate top-down support as legal, financial or even cultural policy-making must be tailor-made and reinvent or adjust continuously. Nevertheless, social innovative activities are expected to further proliferate the following years and move towards a sound environmental, cultural, political, economic and social direction, as knowledge creation and diffusion of technological and governance innovations accompanied with policy support are on the rise.