How can a city move from identifying technical solutions for a Positive Clean Energy District to developing a viable business model around them?
On 22 April 2024, ASCEND and NEUTRALPATH continued their joint webinar series with Setting the Vision: Financing and Business Models for PCEDs – Dresden. The session focused on how business models and financing approaches can be developed around the specific needs, actors and technical solutions of a PCED, using Dresden as a practical example.
The discussion reinforced a key principle emerging from both projects: there is no one-size-fits-all business model for a PCED. NEUTRALPATH’s work identified different business model archetypes, including energy communities with varying forms of ownership and management. ASCEND, meanwhile, presented an iterative approach that starts by assessing the financial sustainability of business cases and the availability of local data before considering wider financing options, cost-benefit analysis and business modelling.
ASCEND’s approach also considers different types of indicators when assessing potential business models. These include monetary indicators, measuring financial impacts, non-monetary indicators, capturing environmental and social value, and risk indicators, assessing potential uncertainties and their impacts. The process is designed to help cities understand which business models and financing schemes are most suitable for their particular circumstances and how individual solutions can ultimately be scaled.
The second part of the webinar focused specifically on Dresden, where the development of PCED business models involves the municipality, technical partners, energy companies and the university. The process considers not only the technical solutions selected for the district, but also their marketability, exploitation potential, stakeholder commitments, regulatory requirements, renewable energy costs and transferability. The City of Dresden plays a central role in coordinating these partners and stakeholders.
The webinar featured the following speakers:
ASCEND: Carola Bosio (R2M)
NEUTRALPATH: Chiara Managó (RINA)
NEUTRALPATH: Stefania Mascolo (Eurocities)
NEUTRALPATH: Georg Hamann (SachsenEnergie)
The session demonstrated that financing and business model design cannot be separated from the wider local context of a PCED. Successful models need to connect technical solutions with ownership, stakeholder roles, regulatory conditions, financing opportunities and the additional value created for the district, while remaining flexible enough to respond to local circumstances.