Capturing community value in civic energy business model design

Abstract

A growing body of literature focusses on the untapped potential of distributed energy as a means of implementing an energy system switch in favour of a substantial demand coverage by renewables. In Europe a policy turnaround has been initiated to promote such a transition. At the same time municipalities across Europe with ambitious climate targets seek to capture the community benefits of civic energy. Together, such developments challenge the restrictions imposed by the incumbent energy utility business model. This paper investigates how energy business models can be re-designed to allow for communities to benefit and at the same time ensure that civic energy processes can be run in a predictable, quality-assured manner. To this end civic energy is cast as a process and a generic business model framework is derived from a comprehensive civic energy process model, the Civic Energy Cycle. The ensuing Civic Energy Business Model Framework replaces the single currency of the energy utility business model by catering to diverse civic energy value propositions. The process approach is used to identify the drivers of civic energy processes and explicitly foresees an active role of community stakeholders in shaping such processes.