We recently spoke to Ole Henrik Hannisdahl (CEO of Mer Norway) on our Talking New Energy Podcast about the key aspects to keep in mind to build a profitable charging network. As Norway has been the early adopter, then market testing playground for EVs, the world has been watching to see what works, and what doesn’t.

The key points I think are important to building, running and scaling a charging business are:

Transactive energy is, according to the Gridwise Architecture Council:

“A system of economic and control mechanisms that allows the dynamic balance of supply and demand across the entire electrical infrastructure using value as a key operational parameter”

With Governments and policy makers across Europe ramping up ambitions for Net Zero and accelerating their plans to get there, this is and will increasingly lead to more deployment of renewable electricity generation, electrification of heat and transport, and increased energy efficiency.  It is also very clear that natural gas will be playing a smaller role in the future energy system than it does today.

But what does this mean for the role of gas network operators in the future energy system?  Across the research we do at Delta-EE helping gas and electricity network operators, we see a number of significant roles that gas network operators in particular could play, including:

The energy transition will change the way customers use and interact with energy – opportunities to play a more active and important role will arise with the emergence of new products and services. As the electrification of heat and transport gathers pace, customers will also be increasingly reliant on electricity to meet their energy needs. What does this mean for vulnerable customers and what role can DSOs play to support them, so no one is left out?

To answer this, we firstly need to understand who the vulnerable customer of the future might be. As the energy transition evolves, customer vulnerability will also change. New types of vulnerability may emerge relating to:

Think about heat pumps and it might be electrically driven heat pumps that you think of first. Heat pumps can, however, be driven by heat itself rather than an electrical compressor. That’s where thermally driven heat pumps (TDHPs) come in.

And while boilers are efficient, thermally driven heat pumps are a step above, capturing the low-grade heat from the surrounding air and combining this with the efficient combustion of gaseous fuels. So, what part do thermally driven heat pumps have to play in the future of the energy transition?

Climate change is climbing organisations’ agendas. Worldwide, around 2,000 cities so far have declared climate emergencies and are setting their own net zero and carbon neutrality goals. 73% of the urban population in the UK currently live in cities with net zero targets.^[1]

These goals are impressive, but they need to be backed up with clear strategy, plan and action.

In my previous blog I shared some of the Delta-EE Heat team’s key takeaways from ISH Digital, focussing on the decarbonisation agenda and product innovations. The next two themes we wanted to share are around how heating manufacturers are embracing digitalisation. While this is mainly being focussed around supporting installers – and rightly so - it’s important companies don’t overlook the other opportunities that digitalisation and connectivity can unlock.

Takeaway 3. Supporting installers in the heating transition is – rightly – a key priority for manufacturers.

In the heating industry – and for the Delta-EE Heat research team! - ISH is an event not to be missed. It’s a great place to hear about the latest heating product launches and innovations in one of Europe’s biggest heating markets, and from some of its biggest brands. This year’s ISH quite different from usual, with everything happening online via the new “ISH Digital” platform. While it felt a bit sad not to be able to catch up with contacts in person over a coffee or beer, for us it was still a very worthwhile event to attend.

There were several stand-out themes for us at the event: from product innovations, to new digital tools, to support for installers. Here are the first two of our major takeaways from the event. We’ll be publishing more in the coming weeks. 

At Delta-EE, we see three main segments of EV charging: home charging, workplace charging and public charging. Recent Delta-EE research finds home charging remains the most predominant segment and as electric vehicles grow in popularity it has become increasingly obvious not everyone has off-street parking where they can charge their EV.

That’s where on-street parking comes in. Within the UK and Germany, only 4-5% of respondents said they used public on-street charging. That number is even lower in France a only 1-2%. In the Netherlands, however, it is a substantial 16%.

The new energy landscape is full of start-ups, but not all of them have yet managed to successfully scale. Joris Jonker, CEO and one of the founders of econic (formerly THE FCTR E), joined Delta-EE Director Jon Slowe on a recent episode of Talking New Energy, to discuss how he has grown his business over the past few years and the lessons learned along the way.

The mission