A review of business models for decentralised renewable energy projects

Abstract

The diffusion of renewable energy technologies has often been suggested as a means to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, but emphasis tends to be placed on large scale projects. Adoption of renewable energy at the local level provides opportunities for both distributed energy schemes and domestic microgeneration. However, alternative models of ownership, governance and operation are not well developed. Locally managed energy solutions need to respond to varied end users' requirements to ensure that needs are met, so understanding of different types of end users is a prerequisite to the development of robust business models. This paper presents a review of existing models of decentralised energy generation in which actors such as community groups, energy cooperatives, charities and municipalities participate as owners and coproducers. End users can become involved in the design, development and delivery of energy services in a variety of ways. The focus is active user engagement through coconstruction, coproduction and coprovision of energy services. The following categories will be reviewed with reference to current understandings of both sustainable entrepreneurship and social enterprise: (a) energy service companies (ESCos) as commercial actors that undertake management of these projects, (b) energy cooperatives and (c) municipal energy. This analysis is used to reflect on and refine understanding of the relationship between technical, financial and operational constructs in models of decentralised energy generation which can contribute to social and environmental gains.

The link between sustainable business models and Blockchain: A multiple case study approach

“…Still, the economic sphere also finds direct relations with the environmental one. Piterou and Coles (2020) show that although there is little empirical evidence, Blockchain can fuel new green business strategies to limit energy consumption and reduce the ecological footprint. Moreover, due to its distributed ledger feature, it can make climate‐neutral interventions transparent to stakeholders.…”

“…The issue of smart energy management is closely linked to the theoretical concept of environmental sustainability. The observed companies propose new business strategies to lower energy costs and reduce their carbon footprint(Piterou & Coles, 2020). For instance, through Blockchain, Serenity Source brings control and transparency to end users by offering advanced energy management solutions.…”

Application of M-SWARA and TOPSIS Methods in the Evaluation of Investment Alternatives of Microgeneration Energy Technologies

“…They claimed that investors should have sufficient technological improvements. Piterou and Coles [19] evaluated decentralized renewable energy projects. They identified that technological development is a crucial performance measurement indicator in microgeneration energy investments.…”

Understanding Microgrid Sustainability: A Systemic and Comprehensive Review

“…Put together, they provide the business model of the microgrid [173] and materialize the strategic objectives [174]. This business model can incur in a more or less centralized ownership [175], and the strategy can be implemented via a more or less centralized governance [176]. Elements, architectures, and issues, by consequence, will also be proposed around these two aspects throughout this section.…”

“…The community has more flexibility with its consumption of energy, paying just what they consume [182] Federated-Multiple owners and maintainers of the microgrid [175] Mixed ownership Customers own a part of the microgrid [183] Community-owned microgrid The community owns the microgrid and takes care of its operation [184] Distributed model A centralized entity owns the microgrid but shares the governance with the community [185] Energy as a service The business model focuses on the best energy quality possible to develop the community [186][187][188] ICES Integrated community energy system where the community participates in optimizing production [189] Virtual power plant Prosumers can be assembled in a bigger entity that faciliates the operation of the microgrid [190,191] Networked-Community owns and operates the microgrid [192] Standalone systems…”