STORY at the IAEE European conference 2017

On 5 September, Nico Keyaerts presented the work on business models for storage and other innovative services in the session on ‘Electricity Grid Perspectives’. The presentation was well received and a short discussion on the work took place on what it would mean for the industry in the future. A striking comment was made that if future business models rely heavily on data, which were argued to have mostly capital costs involved, then it suggests that future competition might be weak because of economies of scale.

The IAEE European conference 2017 took place on 3 to 6 September 2017 in the Hofburg in Vienna, Austria. The conference gathers the academic community of energy economists and engineers to exchange thinking and discuss ideas on energy research. The conference also attracts participants from the industry from the hosting country, such as the Austrian regulatory authority for energy.
The conference had 8 slots for plenary sessions with invited keynote speakers such as Fatih Birol from the IEA and 8 slots with 8 parallel thematic sessions organized per topic such as energy modelling, electricity market, energy efficiency, etc. Overall, more than 300 presentations and posters discussed research from academic researchers from all over the world (contributions from e.g. the U.S., Europe, South Korea).
The different sessions covered the wide spectrum of the economic aspects of the energy transition. Some topics had particular relevance to STORY, even though in most cases the relevance was indirect, e.g. improvements to the market design could allow better participation by new players such as prosumers.