energy transition - digitalization - digitization
How did the German electricity sector develop in 2016? This question is answered by the annual monitoring report by the Federal Network Agency in Germany (BNetzA). In this post we summarize the key findings of this report: Competition in generation and retail still on the rise, gas power plants the big winner 2016, renewable capacity increased, but production remained stable and wholesale prices dropped again.
Read MoreAt the European Utility Week 2017 and the side event EMART2017 blockchain was among the most discussed topics. For us, three events at the EUW2017 & EMART 2017 were especially remarkable: enerchains first live-trade of electricity and gas, the launch of the test network of the Energy Web Foundation & Grid Singularity as well as the initiate! Startup Award for electron. In this post we discuss the steps taken at the EUW17 by these projects.
Read MoreThe potential for an application of blockchain technology is one of the most discussed topics in the energy sector at the moment. Though blockchain technology is often described as a disruptive technology, we stress in this post that blockchain is a fundamental technology that provides the basis for new applications that in the future might become disruptive innovations in the energy sector.
Read MoreDisruptive innovations are supposed to destroy established business models in different markets. For the energy sector, the debate is heating up to which extend certain technologies (e.g. renewables or battery storage) & new digital applications (e.g. AI or blockchain) might disrupt the business case of energy utilities. With this post we provide a basis for this discussion. We built on the definition of disruptive innovation by Christensen and apply this theory to renewables to show that they are actually disruptive for the incumbent energy businesses.
Read MoreDecentralization, 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 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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