Consumer Challenge
1 | Empower end consumer and freedom to chose
End consumers want to play an active role in the energy transition, but the majority have very limited insights in their actual energy consumption profile, or they are not aware about the companies that are accessing their personal data. Additionally, they are bound with one service provider or supplier, while changing would imply large administrative or financial hurdles.
How can we make sure that end-consumers have, at any moment in time, the possibility:
- to consult their energy consumption/production and related costs?
- to adapt their service offering, or service provider, at any moment in time without being locked in?
- to consult (and modify) which parties are using their personal data, in compliancy with GDPR?
- to facilitate the co-existence and integration of multiple service providers within one households, to achieve optimal results?
2 | Low cost, local and/or green value offering
Consumer preferences are different, and we all aim to optimize our value in function of these preferences. The same holds for energy: a lot of consumers would prefer energy at the lowest costs, while others would choose local or green energy, and are willing to pay a premium for this.
How to deliver optimal service packages that maximize value in function of the preferences of the end consumer, and taken into account applicable constraints? How can we:
- compose the best optimization algorithm in function of energy market price and local production?
- facilitate the matching between production and consumption of local green energy?
- let end consumers indicate their preferred energy supply mix (value for green over lowest costs)?
- Enabling value stacking of multiple cost reduction or revenue sources to increase the cost-effectiveness of flexible assets ?
3 | Comfort and frictionless energy experience
Most consumers do not think about their energy supply everyday, still they worry about its costs and are reluctant towards non-transparent energy bills and negative surprises in their final yearly energy bill. They care about the a frictionless energy experience and a simple, convenient service
More and more end-consumer are eager to participate in the energy transition by optimizing their energy consumption. Nevertheless, they want their comfort level to be guaranteed and the services offered to them to remain simple.
How to build services or enhanced products that:
- allow end consumers to contribute to the energy transition, while maintaining their comfort levels?
- are as intuitive and highly user as ordering food on house or booking an Uber?
- offer energy-as-a-service, at optimal terms, without any involvement from the end consumers
Societal Challenge
1 | Accelerate decarbonization and RES integration
Multiple energy consumers would like to actively contribute to a green future, still there means to do so are very limited.
Renewable energies are inexorably developing in Europe to initiate its energy transition and decarbonize its electricity production. The electrical system must be able to integrate these energies and cope with their intermittency and unpredictability.
There is very little transparency to the end-consumer as the origin and the costs of his electricity. Some offers guarantee a green origin but these are limited and often more expensive for the end-consumer.
How to achieve a 100% green energy society?
- Provide guarantee and trust on the green origin of the energy, or track the source of the green energy
- Foster energy community and self-consumption
- Facilitate grid integration for small RES producer
2 | Improve energy efficiency
Energy efficiency is the cheapest and most rational way to reduce emissions and improve the security of energy supply.
- How to reduce carbon footprint by being efficient on all levels?
- How to increase awareness of energy consumption?
- Track energy consumption through a smart energy management system
3 | Be inclusive to all
Electrical cars, solar panels, heat pumps, all these assets are at the center of the energy transition, but they all require significant investment. There is a growing perception these days that the energy transition only benefits the wealthy even though it concerns all of us.
- How to guarantee that all benefit from the energy transition?
System Challenge
1 | Decentral flexibility participation
With the rising number of electric vehicles, heat pumps and others electrical appliances in households, the potential of decentralized flexibility becomes more and more significant. This flexibility potential is currently still very little exploited because of technical, regulatory and process barriers.
How can we unlock decentral flexibility, by:
- Integrating flexibility for grid purposes into the overall local optimization?
- Easing the data exchange requirements for flexibility providers to participate to ancillary services?
- Facilitating the operational processes (e.g. easily assessing the prequalification of assets and volumes)?creasing the awareness to end consumers about the potential?
- Defining new ways to validate data settlement on low voltage levels?
2 | Stable system operation
The intermittent and unpredictable character of RES, in combination with growing peak load consumptions due to increasing numbers of EVs and other electronics, are putting the electrical grid under pressure and create more grid congestions.
- How to integrate system needs into energy services, to avoid congestions?
- How to design dynamic grid tariffs, aligned with the needs of the system?
3 | Multi-energy coupling
To move to a carbon neutral society, energy excesses and shortages will require multi-energy coupling. (think about electrification through hydrogen). Moreover, all utilities (electricity, water, gas) all face the same wave of digitalization coming up.
- How can we create synergies between all actors?
- How to enhance the transparency of energy, water and gas related flows and costs for consumers?
- How to integrate the electricity network with the ones of gas and water?
Want to join IO.Energy 2.0 as a company?
Fill in the Application form below and send it to info@ioenergy.eu before December 24th, 2020.
