TY - JOUR

T1 - Regional electricity models for community energy in germany

T2 - The role of governance structures

AU - Ehrtmann, Moritz

AU - Holstenkamp, Lars

AU - Becker, Timon

N1 - Funding Information: Funding: This research was funded by the European Commission Horizon 2020 project: PROSEU— Prosumers for the Energy Union, grant agreement number 764056. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

PY - 2021/2/19

Y1 - 2021/2/19

N2 - Community energy actors play an important role in the energy transition, fostering the diffusion of sustainable innovation in the renewable energy market. Because market conditions for business models in the renewable energy sector are changing and feed-in-tariff (FiT) schemes expiring, community energy companies are in the process of innovating their business models. In recent years, several community energy companies in Germany have entered the electricity retail market selling locally generated electricity from their renewable energy installations to customers in their region. We explore the evolving regional electricity business models for community energy companies in Germany, related governance structures, and the role they play for a sustainable energy transition. In order to implement these complex business models, community energy companies cooperate with professional marketing partners (intermediaries), which are capable of taking over the tasks and obligations of electricity suppliers. Through a series of expert interviews and desk research, we identify three distinctive regional electricity business models and examine opportunities and challenges to their implementation. Results show that there are different forms of cooperation, leading to specific governance structures and creating a set of new value propositions. Through these forms of cooperation, business networks emerge, which can function as incubators for sustainable innovation and learning for the post-FiT era.

AB - Community energy actors play an important role in the energy transition, fostering the diffusion of sustainable innovation in the renewable energy market. Because market conditions for business models in the renewable energy sector are changing and feed-in-tariff (FiT) schemes expiring, community energy companies are in the process of innovating their business models. In recent years, several community energy companies in Germany have entered the electricity retail market selling locally generated electricity from their renewable energy installations to customers in their region. We explore the evolving regional electricity business models for community energy companies in Germany, related governance structures, and the role they play for a sustainable energy transition. In order to implement these complex business models, community energy companies cooperate with professional marketing partners (intermediaries), which are capable of taking over the tasks and obligations of electricity suppliers. Through a series of expert interviews and desk research, we identify three distinctive regional electricity business models and examine opportunities and challenges to their implementation. Results show that there are different forms of cooperation, leading to specific governance structures and creating a set of new value propositions. Through these forms of cooperation, business networks emerge, which can function as incubators for sustainable innovation and learning for the post-FiT era.

KW - Business model innovation

KW - Community energy

KW - Cooperation

KW - Governance

KW - Intermediary

KW - Regional electricity retail

KW - Management studies

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85101875603&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/su13042241

DO - 10.3390/su13042241

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85101875603

VL - 13

SP - 1

EP - 24

JO - Sustainability

JF - Sustainability

SN - 2071-1050

IS - 4

M1 - 2241

ER -