Storage-as-a-Service. Imagining and defining new services to raise consumers into flexumers 

Desired outcome

Storage-as-a-Service is a crucial technology needed to empower the company’s strategic paths regarding flexibility. In that challenge, the team will explore one or two business plans aiming at the creation of a new business line that will hopefully support by itself while enabling the growth of the flexibility business.

Initial Problem Description

We need to develop a new Storage-as-a-Service solution that enables our flexibility services to be implemented across our client porftolio. Before committing to one of them, we want to explore several Business plans with different approaches and we feel that academia has something to say about that. Therefore, the team has a white canvas to pick an existing o imagine a new SaaS solution and develop a precise business plan. Of course, there will be a few constraints regarding size, geographical influence, national regulation and organizational values of our company which will be given to the team at the beginning of the project.

Context

Electricity retailing has changed too little in the last 20 years and it is time to provide products and services to move into the future. Differentiation is key but electricity retailing finds it hard to give arguments other than price in countries where the grid is reliable. In that direction, flexibility on the demand has been set as the strategic path for the company, enabling our clients to reduce their bills or even make revenue through the participation in the market as flexumers.

Even though demand response can provide a certain amount of flexibility, a minimum degree of storage is needed to provide meaningful results. Given that the current storage capacity in our clients is almost nonexistent and the price of decentralized batteries is high, Storage-as-a-Service (SaaS) appears as a natural solution. We need the teams to help us on developing our own SaaS which will be crucial to the success of our flexibility plans.

Connection to cross-cutting areas

General Sustainability: Flexibility is an inderect measure needed to compensate the variability on electricity generation caused by a high penetration of renewable sources and SaaS is needed to provide flexibility.

Industry 4.0: One of the main stakeholders in flexibility are the medium and large companies, capable of singlehandedly generating a significant impact on the electricity grid. Integrating the provision of flexibility within their operation is a challenge that requires a high level of IOT devices and automatic behaviour.

Digitalisation: Aggregation of residential clients is capable of reaching the volume of medium and large companies, hence becoming an actor to be considered on the flexibility market. Nevertheless, this process requires a high level of digitalisation and automation to be performed consistently.

Input

Our group owns a 1500 km electrical infrastructure covering more than 600000 supply points, which positions us as the 6th DSO in Spain by size. The grid itself can hardly grow outside our domain, though new interventions can be done within that as the common tests of EU projects in which we participate.

Within the group, we also have a retail company, Impulsa, which is the business through the SaaS service will be implemented

Expectations

We expect you to provide a new or pick an existing SaaS solution and develop a Go-To-Market strategy. The company wants to move in this direction and is able to invest if the numbers line properly. This new business is not restricted to providing internal service and should consider the possibility of self-sustainability, being the internal clients just a part of its portfolio.

Desired Team Profile

Strategic skills are important for the Go-to-Market part, but even more being able to think and empathise with the clients. No service will succeed if clients don’t see their benefits and feel its need, therefore client-centric thinking is more important than academic skills or background.

Additional Information

The students will be mentored by 2 members of the innovation and retail teams and are expecting to regularly communicate with those.

Related Keywords

• Digitalization
• Electronics, IT and Telecomms
• Energy Technology
• Energy production, transmission and conversion
• Micro-generation and grid connection
• Smart grids
• Consumer related
• Energy Market