energy transition - digitalization - digitization
Decentralization, decarbonization and digitalization drive incumbent utilities to change their strategies and business models. But how could the future business model of a utility in the US look like? In this post we pick up this question and dive deeper into the current discussion in the US.
Read MoreThe increasing shares of renewables increase the pressure on the existing electricity system in Germany. The network operators are increasingly applying congestion management measures (redispatch, feed-in management) to balance the grid in times of high production from renewables. While this is currently a primary task of the transmission system operator, the distributed character of the energy transition requires a more decentralized approach. Now, the question how to organize the TSO-DSO coordination efficiently becomes a very important issue.
Read MoreBelgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and others are currently developing centralized data management systems for smart grids. These data hubs shall secure the efficient exchange of data from smart metering. While there are good reasons to proceed with this approach, we argue in this post that competition between different decentralized models for data management might increase the level of innovation compared to centralized approaches.
Read MoreCleantech startups suffered from several challenges in the past. Most prominently, many startups failed to acquire enough venture capital for a market rollout. This is currently changing in Germany. We discuss in this post what exatly is changing in Germany and how three factors together increase the chances of cleantech startups to succeed in the German energy market.
Read MoreBlockchain is driving a lot of discussions in the energy sector lately. Let us suppose that the blockchain technology can overcome its current challenges and unlock its potential in the energy sector: Which institutional implications could we expect in a scenario where the blockchain becomes a standard tool in the energy sector? What happens with retail or network operation? How about regulation? These are the questions we try to address in this post.
Read MoreUtilities are at a crossroad: They can follow their established paths and focus on their traditional long-term business models. Or they face the challenges of digitalization and adapt to the faster innovation cycles related to digital business models. We discuss the utilities' strategies related to digitization and find arguments that support both scenarios. Which way are the utilities going to take? Let's see.
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