The impact of the institutional context on the potential contribution of new business models to democratising the energy system

This chapter investigates how institutional conditions influence business models for community energy projects, which intend to enable community members to gain some level of influence, control, and ownership over the energy system. Taking two examples of community-based virtual power plant projects in the Netherlands and Ireland, we analyse how incumbent institutional arrangements at EU and national and local levels shape concrete opportunities for viable business models. The business model canvas is used as a heuristic to structure the outcomes of our analysis. The results show that to survive in the energy services market (which is necessary for economic viability on the longer term), community energy initiatives are forced to partially abandon their initial business model based on a community logic. We discuss how current institutional arrangements are not conducive to a more inclusive energy system and how this could be improved.