The Clean Energy Solutions Center, in partnership with Enerdata, hosted this webinar on When Digital Technologies and the Sharing Economy Help Reinvent the Energy Sector.

It’s clear that the old business model is dying. It is not so clear that a new business model is resurfacing.  – Fonger Ypma, Head of Smart Energy Lab, Eneco.

Technological development and changing regulations have shaken up the energy sector. Firms must compete with one another, deal with the deployment of ever more competitive renewable energies and interact with increasingly demanding prosumers. Building on these recent developments, this webinar will first show why energy firms need to reinvent how they do business. More specifically, it will discuss their needs to reinvent how they interact with customers, something that can be rather unnatural for them.

The webinar presented five innovative business models of Dutch and German firms. These five models propose innovative solutions to allowing customers to own renewable energy production—or to become self-sufficient in their power supply. They make it possible to colour the electron so that customers can trace where their electricity comes from and what their electricity bill finances. These models allow people to trade electricity with one another and be part of a community. They make it possible for owners of electric vehicles to take profit from the flexibility their vehicles can offer the grid. Through these examples, the webinar was intended to give a flavour of what utilities are experimenting with, what they are trying to do to reinvent themselves and ensure they will still have a prominent role to play in tomorrow’s energy system.

The webinar presentations were followed by an interactive question and answer session with the audience.