The Decentralized Energy Revolution: Business Strategies for a New Paradigm
Christoph Burger, Jens Weinmann
Language: English
Pages: 235
ISBN: B00BOKQUYA
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Decentralized energy supply increases independence from fossil resources, reduces the carbon footprint of a society and enhances local value creation. But many of the technologies deployed are still in their infancy and depend on subsidies.
Entrepreneurs, representatives of energy incumbents and new entrants from Germany portray how they have transformed the abstract vision of a low-carbon, decentralized energy system into commercially viable business strategies. They engage in innovation and dissemination networks with municipalities and manufacturers, create new business opportunities using the information and communication layer of the smart grid, and develop an integrated value proposition beyond the narrow maximization of energy sales. Meanwhile, community empowerment stimulates the emotionalization of energy, municipalities turn into island systems and consumers into 'prosumers.'
This book provides first-hand insights of how sustainability and economy can be reconciled – and how agents of change successfully develop the blueprint of a decentralized energy future.
diesel or even coal engines. Natural gas, however, has been the preferred fossil fuel over the past years. Cogeneration also operates with renewable sources, especially biomass, or industrial gases available for combustion. Cogeneration units typically consist of four elements: 20 The Decentralized Energy Revolution a prime mover (engine or drive system), an electricity generator, a heat-recovery system, and a control system (IEA, 2008, 10). The basic efficiency advantages of CHP emerge from
Shanghai 2.3 Residential fuel cell unit used in the ENE-Farm initiative 2.4 Global micro CHP unit sales by technology 2.5 Industrial production of micro CHP units at Volkswagen 2.6 Quiet Revolution turbine at Environment Energy Centre, Leyland 2.7 Micro turbine CHP plant with biogas in Muntscha 2.8 Recharging with the Nuru Power Cycle 3.1 Energy-supply concept of the bioenergy village Jühnde 3.2 Samsø’s main energy production sites 3.3 Jühnde villagers in a meeting next to the biogas plant 3.4
have been first in the field. (Kampwirth, LichtBlick) Even if more competitors enter the market, Kampwirth is confident that his company remains in a comfortable position due to its innovative strategy and portfolio of future business areas. At the moment we have a certain lead because we were the first on the market. Since we communicated the concept and the partnership with VW, more energy suppliers are looking at the area of CHP mini-generators, including Vattenfall and RWE. There is
Decentralized Energy Revolution a role model for the transformation of the energy sector and the emergence and success of a decentralized energy supply.2 Germany has a successful track record of environmental regulation – the green movement had already begun influencing politics in the 1970s; it has a long history of entrepreneurial activity and organizational diversity of its small and medium-sized enterprises; and it has a federal structure that allows for experimentation and environmental
become uneconomical. Customers will understand and support that approach. First of all, it is necessary to create transparency, for example by installing smart meters so that customers can get a precise overview of their four or five most energy-consuming loads. They can then alter their consumption patterns accordingly. The service provider only has 180 The Decentralized Energy Revolution to install meters and create transparency – the rest is taken care of by the customer himself. That