Digitalisation potentials in the electricity ecosystem: lesson learnt from the comparison between Germany and Denmark

• Main Authors: Thorsten Hack, Zheng Ma, Bo Nørregaard Jørgensen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SpringerOpen 2021-09-01
• Series: Energy Informatics
• Subjects: Digitalisation; Energy ecosystem; Electricity market; Demand side; Germany; Denmark
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s42162-021-00168-2

Abstract Digitalisation potentials in the electricity sector are frequently discussed around the world, especially in Europe which has the largest interconnected continental electricity grid in the world. The analysis and comparison of electricity ecosystems between countries can help to enhance international understanding and cooperation. It can also enable businesses to expand. However, little literature has covered the cross-national comparisons of digitalisation potentials in the electricity sector. This paper uses the business ecosystem architecture development methodology to identify commonalities and differences between two electricity ecosystems: Germany and Denmark. The result shows that there are many similarities between the two countries, but the roles of market framework provider, market supervision, and metering point operator are performed by different actors. By comparing the value chain segments, the main differences between Denmark and Germany are the share of renewable energy generation, the organisation of the transmission system, smart meter installation & operations, and the national electricity data hub. Based on the comparisons, six recommendations for the digitalisation of the electricity ecosystem are proposed: digitalisation for enabling more renewable energy resources for electricity generation, digitalisation in the electricity grids, digitalisation ib. the electricity markets, digitalisation on the demand side, especially the transport sector, and regulation-driven digitalisation of the electricity ecosystem.