Is peer-to-peer electricity trading driving a second wave of disruption for incumbent german utilities?

Abstract

The German energy market is facing an ongoing paradigm shift. As a result, incumbent utilities have experienced a first wave of disruption in the form of proliferation of renewable energy. Increasing decentralisation and digitalisation of the electricity sector is now giving rise to new and innovative business models like peer-to-peer (P2P) electricity trading. This allows consumers with distributed energy resources (DERs) to directly trade and share electricity with each other, eliminating the need for intermediary actors and placing the traditional incumbent business model under pressure. This paper analyses whether the P2P business model could potentially drive a second wave of disruption. To underpin this analysis, eleven expert interviews are conducted, and the results critically analysed. The findings indicated that P2P trading is unlikely to be powerful enough to drive a second wave of disruption and continues to be a niche product with limited scalability, at least for now. Implementational hurdles like restrictive regulation and conventional infrastructure are holding back its full market potential. German utilities, slow to adapt their business models away from traditional generation, should be concerned about such a platform-based business models, but equally not fear imminent disruption.

Date of Award	4 May 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Peter V. Rajsingh (Supervisor)