International Industrial Ecology Day 2021

In Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) defined by the United Nations (2015), goal seven includes ensuring universal access to modern energy services, increasing the use of renewables in the global energy mix and doubling the rate of improvement in energy efficiency. India hopes to target this goal by planning to achieve 450 GW of renewable energy(RE) capacity by 2030 from the current 90 GW (IEA, 2020). Energy storage(ES) forms a key link to further increase the adoption of renewable energy as it helps to primarily overcome the intermittency of these sources of energy. Hence, the development of businesses in energy storage is important to the energy transition.

Using the decentralized form of energy along with ES helps to not only reach the rural communities in the remote areas but also helps to balance the increasing demands of the urban communities. The electricity sector where the business models which are currently centralized are finding it difficult to adopt the RE systems due to factors like change in customer demands, change in policies, change in environmental outlook, involvement of communities, etc. This change required in the business models is the focus of this study.

Hence, this presentation focuses on the drivers and barriers of the current business models in the electricity sector using the triple-layered business model canvas(TLBMC). TLBMC helps in developing sustainable business models as it identifies the economic and environmental implications of the businesses in the existing grid but also the implications of developing and changing them. By discussing these factors in the Indian landscape, the relation between energy transition and SDG number seven can be explained using the changing electricity sector as a case study.