What role do entrepreneurs play in the apparent lack of market uptake of Energy Efficiency? Based on previous research we already discovered that the energy sector greatly benefits from entrepreneurs that adopt a service-oriented business model, an approach that is user-centred because the service value is being co-created with the end user. Our current research for the UsersTCP ‘Energy business models and systems’ programme by the International Energy Agency (IEA) focuses on how their entrepreneurial journeys are shaped by the institutional context and other system factors, especially by the specific characteristics of the energy transition context they operate in and vice versa. Exploring questions such as: Which entrepreneurial capabilities are effective for up-scaling and broadening their market share, how do they tackle system conditions that either limit or facilitate the flourishing of energy services and what instruments or other means are available to meet these needs, or need adjusting or need to be developed?

DuneWorks is coordinating this task together with Ideate (NL) and in collaboration with country experts from the Swedish Energy Agency Sustainable Energy Authority (SV) and the International Energy Research Center (IR).

The UserTCP programme is part of an international work programme (organised into annexes) with a focus on business models, peer-to-peer energy trading, hard-to-reach energy users  and the social licence to automate. The Users TCP programme is overseen by an Executive Committee drawn from its 16 members countries and three sponsors. Experts from member countries and sponsoring organisations collaborate through the TCP’s annexes.

Publications

4 Strategies
Conference Paper ECEEE 2017 Summer Study
Conference Paper Behave 2016
User-centred business models
Short animation of a new way of creating energy service business models from Ideate.