Would You Like to Trade Your Energy? A Comparative Survey Experiment on Energy Trading Platforms

Abstract

As energy markets become more decentralised, energy trading platforms are emerging as useful tools to facilitate the coordination of energy consumption and generation, encouraging a more efficient use of renewable energy by residential producers and consumers. By exploring three different European countries, we study the effectiveness of both monetary and non-monetary incentives in fostering energy trade via trading platforms. We use an incentivized survey experiment to evaluate the drivers of consumers’ and prosumers’ willingness to participate in an energy trading platform. We find that the monetary incentive is not necessarily the main reason why people would choose to trade their energy, but other dimensions, such as environmental concerns and independence from the national grid, play an important role.

Keywords

Energy markets Consumer behaviour Two-sided platform Prosumers

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abada

Ehrenmann

Lambin

(2020). “On the viability of energy communities.”The Energy Journal 41(1). https://doi.org/10.5547/01956574.41.1jaba.

Alexander

C.S.

Becker

H.J.

(1978). “The use of vignettes in survey research.”Public Opinion Quarterly 42(1): 93-104. https://doi.org/10.1086/268432.

Atzmüller

Steiner

P.M.

(2010). “Experimental vignette studies in survey research.”Methodology. https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-2241/a000014.

Balta-Ozkan

Watson

Mocca

(2015). “Spatially uneven development and low carbon transitions: Insights from urban and regional planning.”Energy Policy 85: 500-510. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2015.05.013.

Boudet

H.S.

(2019). “Public perceptions of and responses to new energy technologies.”Nature Energy 4(6): 446-455. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-019-0399-x.

Brunekreeft

Buchmann

Meyer

(2016). “The rise of third parties and the fall of incumbents driven by large- scale integration of renewable energies: the case of Germany.”The Energy Journal 37(Bollino-Madlener Special Issue). https://doi.org/10.5547/01956574.37.SI2.gbru.

Chetty

(2015). “Behavioral economics and public policy: A pragmatic perspective.”American Economic Review 105(5): 1-33. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.p20151108.

Choi

G.S.

Storr

V.H.

(2020). “Market interactions, trust and reciprocity.”PloS One 15(5). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0232704.

Deller

Giulietti

Loomes

Price

C.W.

Moniche

Jeon

J.Y.

(2021). “Switching energy suppliers: It’s not all about the money.”The Energy Journal 42(3). https://doi.org/10.5547/01956574.42.3.ddel.

10.

Dharshing

(2017). “Household dynamics of technology adoption: A spatial econometric analysis of residential solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in Germany.”Energy Research & Social Science 23: 113-124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2016.10.012.

11.

Ecker

Spada

Hahnel

U.J.

(2018). “Independence without control: Autarky outperforms autonomy benefits in the adoption of private energy storage systems.”Energy Policy 122: 214-228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.07.028.

12.

Evans

S.C.

Roberts

M.C.

Keeley

J.W.

Blossom

J.B.

Amaro

C.M.

Garcia

A.M.

Stough

C.O.

Canter

K.S.

Robles

Reed

G.M.

(2015). “Vignette methodologies for studying clinicians decision-making: validity, utility, and application in ICD-11 field studies.”International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology 15(2): 160-170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijchp.2014.12.001.

13.

Falk

Becker

Dohmen

Enke

Huffman

Sunde

(2018). “Global evidence on economic preferences.”The Quarterly Journal of Economics 133(4): 1645-1692. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjy013.

14.

Fell

M.J.

Schneiders

Shipworth

(2019). “Consumer Demand for Blockchain-Enabled Peer-to-Peer Electricity Trading in the United Kingdom: An Online Survey Experiment.”Energies 12(20): 3913. https://doi.org/10.3390/en12203913.

15.

Finch

(1987). “The vignette technique in survey research.”Sociology 21(1): 105-114. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038587021001008.

16.

Fischer

Gutsche

Wetzel

(2021). “Who wants to get involved? Determining citizen willingness to participate in German renewable energy cooperatives.”Energy Research & Social Science 76: 102013. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102013.

17.

Flores

Price

C.W.

(2018). “The role of attitudes and marketing in consumer behaviours in the British retail electricity market.”The Energy Journal 39(4). https://doi.org/10.5547/01956574.39.4.mflo.

18.

Frederiks

E.R.

Stenner

Hobman

E.V.

(2015). “Household energy use: Applying behavioural economics to understand consumer decision-making and behaviour.”Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 41: 1385-1394. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.09.026.

19.

Georgarakis

Bauwens

Pronk

A.-M.

AlSkaif

(2021). “Keep it green, simple and socially fair: a choice experiment on prosumers’ preferences for peer-to-peer electricity trading in the Netherlands.”Energy Policy 159: 112615. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112615.

20.

Glachant

J.-M.

Rossetto

(2021). “New Transactions in Electricity: Peer-to-Peer and Peer-to-X.”Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy 10(2). https://doi.org/10.5547/2160-5890.10.2.jgla.

21.

Gobel

M.S.

Benet-Martinez

Mesquita

Uskul

A.K.

(2018). “Europe’s culture (s): Negotiating cultural meanings, values, and identities in the European context.”Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 49(6): 858-867. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022118779144.

22.

Greenstein

Prince

(2006). “The Diffusion of the Internet and the Geography of the Digital Divide in the United States.”National Bureau of Economic Research Cambridge, Mass., USA. https://doi.org/10.3386/w12182.

23.

Hackbarth

Lobbe

(2020). “Attitudes, preferences, and intentions of German households concerning participation in peer-to-peer electricity trading.”Energy Policy 138: 111238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111238.

24.

Hahnel

U.J.

Herberz

Pena-Bello

Parra

Brosch

(2020). “Becoming prosumer: Revealing trading preferences and decision-making strategies in peer-to-peer energy communities.”Energy Policy 137: 111098. https://doi.org/10.1016Zj.enpol.2019.111098.

25.

Hall

B.H.

(2004). “Innovation and diffusion.”National Bureau of Economic Research Cambridge, Mass., USA. https://doi.org/10.3386/w10212.

26.

Hansen

A.R.

Jacobsen

M.H.

Gram-Hanssen

(2022). “Characterizing the Danish energy prosumer: Who buys solar PV systems and why do they buy them? ” Ecological Economics 193: 107333. https://doi.org/10.1016Zj.ecolecon.2021.107333.

27.

International Renewable Energy Agency (2020). “Peer-to-Peer Electricity Trading: Innovation Landscape Brief.”Technical report International Renewable Energy Agency.

28.

Jager

(2006). “Stimulating the diffusion of photovoltaic systems: A behavioural perspective.”Energy Policy 34(14): 1935-1943. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2004.12.022.

29.

James

H.S.

Jr . (2002). “The trust paradox: a survey of economic inquiries into the nature of trust and trustworthiness.”Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 47(3): 291-307. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-2681(01)00214-1.

30.

Junlakarn

Kokchang

Audomvongseree

(2022). “Drivers and Challenges of Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading Development in Thailand.”Energies 15(3): 1229. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15031229.

31.

Kaenzig

Heinzle

S.L.

Wüstenhagen

(2013). “Whatever the customer wants, the customer gets? Exploring the gap between consumer preferences and default electricity products in Germany.”Energy Policy 53: 311-322. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2012.10.061.

32.

Kim

(2021). “Trust and trading volume.”Economics Letters 207: 110003. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2021.110003.

33.

Koirala

B.P.

Araghi

Kroesen

Ghorbani

Hakvoort

R.A.

Herder

P.M.

(2018). “Trust, awareness, and independence: Insights from a socio-psychological factor analysis of citizen knowledge and participation in community energy systems.”Energy research & social science 38: 33-40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2018.01.009.

34.

Lazaric

Le Guel

Belin

Oltra

Lavaud

Douai

(2019). “Determinants of sustainable consumption in France: the importance of social influence and environmental values.”Journal of Evolutionary Economics : 1-30. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00191-019-00654-7.

35.

Lehtonen

de Carlo

(2019). “Community energy and the virtues of mistrust and distrust: Lessons from Brighton and Hove energy cooperatives.”Ecological Economics 164: 106367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.106367.

36.

Xiao

Yin

(2021). “Application of Blockchain Technology in Energy Trading: a Review.”Frontiers in Energy Research 9: 130. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenrg.2021.671133.

37.

McKenna

Pless

Darby

S.J.

(2018). “Solar photovoltaic self-consumption in the UK residential sector: New estimates from a smart grid demonstration project.”Energy Policy 118: 482-491. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.04.006.

38.

Mir-Artigues

Del Río

(2021). “Prosumers’ Behavior under a Regulation That Encourages Strict Self-Sufficiency. The Case of Spanish Photovoltaic Micro-Generation.”Energies 14(4): 1114. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14041114.

39.

Ozbafli

Jenkins

G.P.

(2016). “Estimating the willingness to pay for reliable electricity supply: A choice experiment study.”Energy Economics 56: 443-452. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2016.03.025.

40.

Palm

(2017). “Peer effects in residential solar photovoltaics adoption-A mixed methods study of Swedish users.”Energy Research & Social Science 26: 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2017.01.008.

41.

Parag

Sovacool

B.K.

(2016). “Electricity market design for the prosumer era.”Nature Energy 1(4): 16032. https://doi.org/10.1038/nenergy.2016.32.

42.

Park

Yong

(2017). “Comparative review and discussion on P2P electricity trading.”Energy Procedia 128: 3-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2017.09.003.

43.

Plewnia

Guenther

(2021). “The transition value of business models for a sustainable energy system: the case of virtual peer-to-peer energy communities.”Organization & Environment 34(3): 479-503. https://doi.org/10.1177/1086026620932630.

44.

Pollitt

M.G.

Shaorshadze

(2013). “The role of behavioural economics in energy and climate policy.” In Handbook on energy and climate change, Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9780857933690.00035.

45.

Reuter

Loock

(2017). “Empowering local electricity markets: A survey study from Switzerland, Norway, Spain and Germany.”

46.

Rogers

E.M.

(2010). Diffusion of innovations. Simon and Schuster.

47.

Schleich

Gassmann

Meissner

Faure

(2019). “A large-scale test of the effects of time discounting, risk aversion, loss aversion, and present bias on household adoption of energy-efficient technologies.”Energy Economics 80: 377-393. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2018.12.018.

48.

Smart Energy Europe (2020). “The smartEn Map Prosumers 2020.” Technical report Smart Energy Europe.

49.

Soto

E.A.

Bosman

L.B.

Wollega

Leon-Salas

W.D.

(2021). “Peer-to-peer energy trading: A review of the literature.”Applied Energy 283: 116268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.116268.

50.

Tankard

M.E.

Paluck

E.L.

(2016). “Norm perception as a vehicle for social change.”Social Issues and Policy Review 10(1): 181-211. https://doi.org/10.1111/sipr.12022.

51.

Tushar

Saha

T.K.

Yuen

Morstyn

McCulloch

M.D.

Poor

H.V.

Wood

K.L.

(2019). “A motivational game- theoretic approach for peer-to-peer energy trading in the smart grid.”Applied Energy 243: 10-20. https://doi.org/10.1016Zj.apenergy.2019.03.111.

52.

UK Energy Research Centre (2019). “Paying for energy transitions: public perspectives and acceptability.” Technical report UK Energy Research Centre.

53.

Valkila

Saari

(2013). “Attitude-behaviour gap in energy issues: Case study of three different Finnish residential areas.”Energy for Sustainable Development 17(1): 24-34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esd.2012.10.001.

54.

Wolske

K.S.

Gillingham

K.T.

Schultz

(2020). “Peer influence on household energy behaviours.”Nature Energy 5(3): 202-212. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-019-0541-9.

55.

Yang

(2014). “Understanding household switching behavior in the retail electricity market.”Energy Policy 69: 406-414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2014.03.009.

56.

Zhou

Long

Ming

(2020). “State-of-the-art analysis and perspectives for peer-to-peer energy trading.”Engineering 6(7): 739-753. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eng.2020.06.002.

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.03 MB