Finnish Energy (ET) is a branch organization for the energy sector’s industrial and labor market policy. It represents companies that produce, procure, distribute, and sell electricity, gas, district heat and district cooling, and related services.
VALOR’s research was conducted as part of the Electricity Research Pool established for the development of research in electrical power engineering, electricity transmission and distribution, and the related service production, and other research serving the energy industry.
The survey was conducted through desk studies and comprehensive interviews with the value chain participants (Distribution System Operators (DSO), construction and engineering companies, retailers, the authorities, and some other interest groups). A total of 33 interviews and 260 documented remarks was implemented.
The main VALOR research findings were as follows:
- Many and various business models are in use in this value chain. These were analyzed.
- Knowledge of the total value chain is very limited, and the participants are unaware of how the business value is developing in the chain.
- Most of the economic value is collected by DSOs. The other value chain participants collect little.
- The regulation model mostly defines earnings for value chain participants – the model must be updated soon.
- Construction companies must reinvent and develop their business models to differentiate their services from those of their competitors—service development investments are currently marginal.
- Multiple development opportunities related to the electricity network construction value chain were identified.
- All the highlighted development opportunities offer potential for efficiency improvement and are thus relevant for the industry.
Interest in platform business models has grown over the last three years, and the platform economy is perceived to have considerable potential in electricity grid services. However, there is a limited number of concrete ideas for the implementation, and no significant platform economy projects are under development. The study identified several application areas where the platform economy model makes it possible to create value.
Please contact Aappo Kontu, Senior Advisor, for more information.
You can find the full research paper here.