Key elements of an entrepreneurial (business) model in the biogas sector. Insights from Romania

Roxana Clodnițchi,Alexandra Cătălina Nedelcu

doi:10.2478/picbe-2018-0020

Roxana Clodnițchi, Alexandra Cătălina Nedelcu

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.2478/picbe-2018-0020

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Abstract

Abstract The current volatile economic environment and the evermore shorter technology cycles impact the way business is done today, especially in an emerging field like the renewable energy sector. Business modelling proves itself as an instrument, which may impact decisively the success or failure of a business. The aim of this article is to identify and present the key elements defining entrepreneurial models in the renewable energy field, as resulted from a synthesis of the recent literature available in journals indexed in international databases of mainstream publications about business models and entrepreneurial models as well as from empirical research performed in the past five years. The research result consists in a systematisation on past approaches on business modelling and the development and adaptation of the entrepreneurial model’s definition specific for the biogas sector.

Highlights

Nowadays, we are facing more and more interest for renewable energy, as the European Commission (2009) set out the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to strengthen the security of energy supply
The total biogas based capacity installed in power plants connected to the electric power grid in 2017 was only 18 MWel (Transelectrica, 2018). We believe that this development is due to the entrepreneurial models implemented so far in this sector in Romania, so we propose to verify the hypothesis "The models currently implemented in the Romanian biogas sector are not fully adequate to the specific conditions of the Romanian business environment" by comparing the models implemented in biogas sector with anticipated models to be implemented in the future
In order to achieve the goal of Developing a Generic Entrepreneurship Model for the Renewable Energy Sector, we formulated the Hypothesis "The Renewable Energy Sector requires distinct key features of the entrepreneurial model that are different from those of other sectors." Based on our research, we found that four of the five elements determined for entrepreneurial models in other sectors are considered decisive for entrepreneurial models in the renewable energy sector

Summary

Introduction

We are facing more and more interest for renewable energy, as the European Commission (2009) set out the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to strengthen the security of energy supply. In this context, we are facing an increasing interest in biogas technology, which can be used to produce heat or electricity. Biogas producers are facing numerous barriers in terms of production, distribution, or marketing (Martin, 2015). Authors identified a lack of simple and linear innovation processes for biogas systems (Lybæk et al, 2013; Sanden and Hillman, 2011; Raven and Geels, 2010;) and that a greater integration of actors into systems or networks is needed (Negro et al, 2007; Negro and Hekkert, 2008; Vernay et al, 2013)

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