From Energy as a Commodity to Energy as a Service—A Morphological Analysis of Smart Energy Services

Abstract

The Internet of Things penetrates all areas of life and work, giving physical objects the characteristics of digital technologies. Also, in the energy sector, physical products such as photovoltaic systems, battery storage systems, and thermostats are equipped with smart and connectivity components and become smart energy products. Smart energy products enable new types of services that are smart energy services. For example, a smart thermostat can offer an intelligent preheating service based on data collected and analyzed. Against this background, smart energy services offer new business potentials for companies as well as added value for private households. To benefit from this development, companies need an understanding of the characteristics and capabilities of the products and the services building on them. Smart energy services, in particular, appear promising, as services are seen as a bridge to the customer. However, there is little research that supports the design of smart energy services. To close this gap, a morphological analysis of smart energy services along several dimensions is conducted. In highlighting the unique characteristics of smart energy services, the paper provides a more nuanced picture on the nature of smart energy services and their potential in terms of new consumer and business values. Additionally, the phenomenon of consumer-oriented smart energy services will be further conceptualized, and the morphological box can be considered a structured approach for the design of smart energy services.

Electricity Markets in a Time of Change: A Call to Arms for Business Research

“…For example, industrial processes for the production of pulp and paper could provide flexibility with a duration of up to three hours without any prior notice period (EU 2016). Beyond industrial companies, there is a large potential for demand-side flexibility also in the retail market, including smart charging of electric vehicles (and the electrification of sectors other than transportation) or smart appliances in residential and commercial buildings (IRENA 2019a; Paukstadt and Becker 2021). If organized into virtual power plants (VPPs), such new players can also actively bid into the market.…”

Understanding Microgrid Sustainability: A Systemic and Comprehensive Review

“…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…”

Energy-as-a-service: A new business model for the built environment?

“…Several studies have explored EaaS using various definitions and perspectives. For instance, Paukstadt and Becker [13], studied EaaS potential with new consumer and business values in a morphological analysis. Ingalalli and Kamalasadan [24] present EaaS through a layered architectural networked model of microgrids with dynamic boundaries, technology aggregation and resiliency service offering.…”

“…Guided by these trends, buildings are evolving from passive energy consuming structures to more active units with bidirectional flows of energy, money and information [1,9]. Under such situation recent literature mentioned EaaS as a potential BM in facilitating this energy transition [8,10,11,12,13]. However, it is interesting to note that little research has been done to-date on EaaS in Australian context, more specifically with a focus on energy transition of built environment.…”