Like this post? Let us and others know by sharing it! Are distribution network operators in Europe threatened by a potential application of blockchain technology in the energy sector? This seems to be the pressing question that was at least partially the motivation for a recent report on blockchain in the energy sector by eurelectric, which is the European association of the distribution grid operators. From our perspective, this report reads like an attempt by the industry to reassure itself that its core business model – asset ownership and operation of the electricity networks – is not ..read more

German Version Like this post? Let us and others know by sharing it! A decommissioned power plant in Berlin finally was brim-full of energy again when experts of the energy and blockchain sector entered the stage at the Event Horizon 2018. “Flip the switch” was the motto of the conference, which very well summarizes the vibe at the event: It is time to move forward: from concepts to application and demonstration.  Europe becomes the headquarter of energy-related blockchain initiatives In his key note, Jules Besnaunou, the current director of the Cleantech Group, provided some interest ..read more

German Version Like this post? Let us and others know by sharing it! Recently, Tennet, the Dutch transmission system operator which is responsible for a significant part of the German transmission system, published its report on the developments in the electricity market in Germany and the Netherlands in 2017.  Within the following we will briefly summarize the key findings of the report for Germany. If you are interested into the full picture, you can find the full report here.  Wholesale prices on the rise in 2017  We have already discussed here on enerquire that ..read more

German Version Like this post? Let us and others know by sharing it! Since 2016, the largest German utilities, which happen to be major international players in the European energy market as well, have been in a strategic transition period. What happened in 2016 is that Eon and RWE separated their conventional generation business from network, retail and renewable business units. For RWE, innogy became responsible for renewable generation, distribution networks and the retail business. RWE itself, on the other hand, focused its business on conventional generation. In the case of E.on, the ..read more

Like this post? Let us and others know by sharing it! Utilities might want to take a closer look at what happened to Kodak in the past: Kodak had developed a digital camera in 1975 and filed a patent in 1978 which was the basis for the digital camera market as we know it today (Estrin 2015). First, Kodak did not believe in this technology (who would want to watch pictures on a screen?), which seems understandable given the mind-set in the late seventies. Later in the 90ies Kodak had the chance to go public with a digital camera and be the first mover in this market, but the company did not ..read more

Like this post? Let us and others know by sharing it! Since 2014, utilities have been increasing their investment in digital infrastructure. This is the key finding of the IEA report “energy and digitalization” which was published in November 2017. This report provides a detailed overview on how digitalization changes energy consumption in transportation, the industry and the residential sector. To us, the most interesting part of the report is the one focusing on the utilities’ investment in digital infrastructure. The first remarkable conclusion that can be drawn from the IEA’s data is t ..read more

Like this post? Let us and others know by sharing it! Just lately, on Wednesday, 12/19/2017, Innogy SE has parted with their CEO because the annual results fell short of the expectations of the primary shareholder RWE. Innogy was separated from RWE in 2016. While RWE continued to focus on conventional generation and wholesale markets, Innogy became responsible for network assets, renewable energy and consumer services in the retail sector. From the start, however, it was Innogy’s British subsidiary Npower that faced significant challenges in the UK retail business. Utilities’ earnings are ..read more

Like this post? Let us and others know by sharing it! On November 10th this year, the German energy regulator BNetzA published its annual monitoring report about the current state of the energy sector in Germany (BNetzA 2017). The recent report collected and analyzed data from 2016. From our perspective, four supervisions stand out of the analysis: Even though renewable capacity increased by more than 7 GW in 2016, annual production remained on the level of 2015 CO2 emissions from electricity generation increased by 1 % Gas fired power plants increased generation by nearly 40% compared to ..read more

Like this post? Let us and others know by sharing it! Does the classical business model of utilities have a future in Europe given the transition towards a decentralized energy system? This was the key question discussed by different economists at the Université Paris-Dauphine on invitation by Prof. Keppler. Among the experts were very renowned economists like Prof. David Newbery from the University of Cambridge, Prof. Glachant from the Florence School of Regulation and Prof. Haucap, the former head of the monopoly commission in Germany. The experts in the panel (presentations can be acces ..read more

Like this post? Let us and others know by sharing it! Many utilities around the globe are currently adapting their business model to the 3 Ds “Decentralization, Decarbonization and Digitalization”. Especially in the medium- and long- run it seems to be consensus that utilities need to change their asset-based business model towards a service-based model. We have discussed in an earlier post (see here for details) a range of potential business models for utilities from a pure asset-focus to digital service companies. Most prominently, the two German utilities E.on and RWE split their core b ..read more