New energy downstream. Emerging business models and innovative best practices: an economic, institutional, and behavioral focus

Thanks to policy pressure and technological progress, modern energy systems are going through an increasing decentralization and decarbonization process. Digitalization and decarbonization, in this context, represent key enablers, as they unlock new opportunities of actors across the value chain (i.e., consumers, prosumers, retailers, traders, producers, network operators, and policy makers), providing them with new solutions. The combination of digital technologies and renewable energy solutions is already playing a pivotal role in the energy sector. The increasing attention toward clean energy sources, Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Cloud, 5 G, and Blockchain technologies are influencing changes both in energy companies’ value creation strategies and in customer behavior as well as in policy and regulatory frameworks. This transition will define the economic and legal environment able to accommodate an ever-increasing number and variety of alternative business models and new solutions. All these new aspects are expected to have an impact on long-time established roles, particularly by creating trust and empowering consumers on one side, and by disrupting traditional business models on the other. Ideally, this transformative process should be able to set out cost-effective and economically productive pathway, resulting in a clean, dynamic, and resilient energy economy dominated by renewables – while ensuring stable and affordable energy supplies, providing universal energy access, and enabling robust economic growth.