Analysis on new types of electric power businesses using a morphological box

This study analyzed new electricity business cases with an aim to categorize them systematically based on theoretical grounds. The previous research studies on new businesses in the electric power sector lack the perspicuous theoretical basis for the criteria for classification and fail to examine a wide range of cases or the further possibility of new businesses development. Complementing the shortcomings, we adopted the morphological box for categorization to compare several business cases and draw the main types of businesses. It has revealed that utilities as well as residential, commercial, industrial customers also act as the main customers for the distributed resources while cooperation among different industries is growing rapidly, and local governments are actively involved in the business as the main providers. Also, cases related to consumer service innovation including consumer choice expansion and customized services are often seen. Furthermore, free services have emerged in the sector. This study has significance in that it successfully reassessed the theoretical arguments on business models and rearranged the parameters of the morphological box suitable for analyzing more than 100 business cases.