Many new business models and types of entrepreneurs are emerging to accelerate the energy transition. We will share first findings on how these new business models look like and the new type of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial capabilities needed to operate successfully in the complex, uncertain energy transition, and of course reflect briefly on what this means for policy.

1. Speaker: Ruth Mourik
Operating Agent Annex Energy Services Supporting Business Models and Systems
Users TCP by the International Energy Agency
Entrepreneurship
in the Energy Transition

2. How do the business models used and entrepreneurial skills or capabilities
explain the lack of uptake of new energy innovations?
Intro

3. Servitisation transition in the energy sector

4. Servitisation transition in the energy sector

5. Match business model with product or service
Different business model required to deliver products versus services

6. Servitisation transition in the energy sector
Different dynamic capabilities required to deliver services
Sensing Conceptualising Orchestrating Scaling

7. Recap

8. The research questions for this next phase were:
• How do these innovative energy services scale up?
• How are their business models and entrepreneurial journeys shaped by factors, especially by the
specific characteristics of the energy transition?
• How do these enterprising stakeholders deal with the system around them, and how are dynamic
capabilities impacting on their journey?
• And finally, what are system conditions that either limit or facilitate the flourishing of energy
services?
Research questions

9. Methodology
• Long lists
• Short Lists
• Interviews with entrepreneurs focused on business model, dynamic
capabilities and interaction with context
• Interviews with system stakeholders
• Literature review
• Analysis

10. Case Studies
Netherlands Ireland Sweden Australia
A sustainable district case:
Talis
A community Virtual Power
Plant case: Community Power
Negnic: smart thermostat
delivering flexibility services
CONSORT Bruny Island
microgrid
An all-electric district case:
Hoogdalem
Solar Stream: EPC service
related to PV roof space for
businesses
Smart Front: Upgrading
façade, indoor climate and
insulation in one go
Yackadanda community
microgrid
A community Virtual Power
Plant case: Loenen
Veolia : Carbon Fund EPC
service for Dublin Mater
hospital
Citizen-driven innovation
platform that aims to create a
climate friendly district:
Hammersby Electricity
Monash University Campus
microgrid
A case on optimisation of
heat transport (de Vreugd)
Urban Volts ESB: Light as a
service for industry
A case on heat as a service
(Schouten)
Solo Energy: VPP, Storage,
P2P, flexibility services
Ochno: Smart power and
communication infra for
offices, full control of
connected things.
ESCO cases (3) on innovative
heat services (Zegwaard, Van
Hout and ST warmte)
Grid Beyond: total solution
for flexibility Consumers and
industry

11. Transition studies explaining how entrepreneurs experience the system
Initial Findings
Complexity and interwovenness
Uncertain pathways
Organised irresponsibility/ no governance
Different perspectives/Lost in translation
Resistance

12. From ignoring to following to reconfiguring
the system

13. Case Studies
Netherlands Ireland Sweden Australia
A sustainable district case:
Talis
A community Virtual Power
Plant case: Community Power
Negnic: smart thermostat
delivering flexibity services
CONSORT Bruny Island
microgrid
An all-electric district case:
Hoogdalem
Solar Stream: EPC service
business related to PV roof
space for businesses
Smart Front: Upgrading
façade, indoor climate and
insulation in one go
Yackadanda community
microgrid
A community Virtual Power
Plant case: Loenen
Veolia Dublin Mater hospital:
EPC service and fund
Citizen-driven innovation
platform that aims to create a
climate friendly district:
Hammersby Electricity
Monash University Campus
microgrid
A case on optimisation of
heat transport (de Vreugd)
Urban Volts ESB: Light as a
service for industry
A case on heat as a service
(Schouten)
Solo Energy: VPP, Storage,
P2P, flexibility services
Ochno: Smart power and
communication infra for
offices, full control of
connected things.
ESCO cases (3) on heat
(Zegwaard, Van Hout and ST
warmte)
Grid Beyond: total solution
for flexibility C&I

14. Van Hout Netherlands:
“we train the actors within the banks who have to deal with the new models like ours, the whole
installations and building model included. Just to be sure they feel at ease with the new risk models
they’re about to engage with.”
Veolia Ireland:
This model is about bringing a new business model to the market and get the market to respond.
Analysis

15. Ngenic Sweden:
Ngenic is aiming to provide good examples on flexibility services in spite of a lack of peak pricing mechanisms
in Sweden, such that these mechanisms will be put in place.
Monash Electricity Microgrid Operator Australia
Universities have an important role to play in challenging the existing energy institutions and experimenting
with new models and can do so as part of their core focus of research and education, mediating between
practice, policy and innovation.
Yacakanda Australia
Decentralisation does not necessarily lead to democratization.
In most DER trials it is actually the households that are delivering a public service and value to the network. As
such the network operators/gentailers are both customers and initiators of their own business model.”
Analysis

16. Institutional Entrepreneurship
entrepreneur context characteristics relevant skills
Strategic entrepreneur Defined by socio-technical systems,
operating in a complex and dynamic
environment
Does not aim to challenge socio-
technical systems, but aims at scaling
up
High adaptability and agility
Technical skills, business
management skills,
interpersonal skills
Grassroots initiatives Local, community led. Embedded in
socio-technical systems, but not
defined by them
Challenge socio-technical systems,
but do particularly not aim to scale
up
Creating legitimacy on
community level
Institutional entrepreneur Embedded in socio-technical systems,
but not defined by them. Operating in
a complex and dynamic environment
Challenges socio-technical systems,
able to disrupt, create or maintain
institutions
Has particular institutional interests
(Institutional) dynamic
capabilities, transition
competences, additional
skills
Positioning the institutional entrepreneur
Defining institutional entrepreurneurship
”Individuals/organizations or a group of individuals/organizations that have a particular institutional interest and aim to disrupt existing
sociotechnical configurations/institutional elements and reconfigure or create new sociotechnical configurations and or institutional
elements to further their business” (based on Garud et al, 2007; Heiskanen et al., 2019; Jolly et al., 2016; Mahzouni, 2019).

17. Institutional Entrepreneurship
Skills of an institutional entrepreneur: dynamic capabilities + transition skills
Individual
Organisational
Institutional
Sensing + systems
thinking +
interpersonal skills
Orchestration +
normative skills
Conceptualising+
anticipatory skills
Scaling /
streching +
strategic skills
Gaining social
acceptance, gaining
insights from relevant
stakeholders, building on
on-going dialogues,
create a common vision
at multiple levels
Business propositions
revolve around gained
insights and can be
(re)adjusted, aligning
with (potential new)
laws and policies
Negotiation with the ‘right’
people, engagement in
political work, convincing
that the uptake of the
business proposition
should be stimulated by
(new)laws and policies
New business models
are facilitated by new
laws and policies and
also picked up by
other businesses

18. Conclusions and implications
- Business models are shaped by institutions but also vice versa. The uptake of new
business models therefore depends on (new) institutional arrangements and vice versa!
- By disrupting existing institutions and creating new ones, institutional entrepreneurs can
create more favorable conditions for the rollout of their business model and pave the way
- Therefore they are important transition accelerators for business opportunities for other
entrepreneurs that are less active on an institutional level
- To disrupt existing institutions, particular capabilities (DC’s, transition competences) on
multiple levels (individual, organizational, institutional) are essential, these need to be
trained or transferred otherwise
- Institutional entrepreneurship as a lens helps us to identify valuable actors that can have
significant impact on the acceleration of the energy transition

19. Thank you!
Name Role Country E-mail
Ruth Mourik Operating Agent Netherlands ruth.mourik@duneworks.nl
Tony Fullelove National Expert Australia tony.fullelove@monash.edu
Joanna Southernwood National Expert Ireland jo.southernwood@ierc.ie
Matthew Kennedy National Expert Ireland matthew.kennedy@ierc.ie
Renske Bouwknegt National Expert Netherlands renske@ideate.nl
Lotta Bångens National Expert Sweden lotta.bangens@aton.se
https://userstcp.org/annex/business-models-and-systems/