DOUGLAS, Isle of Man, Aug. 25, 2022 – In an article published today under the title ‘To build the new energy ecosystem, we need new predators’, Chris Caldwell lays out his vision for the potential shift in the structure of the market.
Chris Caldwell is the CEO and founder of United Renewables, and has spent ten years working to develop renewable energy infrastructure in the United Kingdom. His experiences bringing green energy projects to market – from greenfield and planning through to management and optimisation – have given him an on-the-ground view of both the potential, and the missing pieces, in the UK’s current clean energy sector.
As President Emeritus of the London Business School (LBS) Energy Alumni Club, and host of the climate change podcast Conversations on Climate, Caldwell was writing in response to a conversation with economist and LBS Professor Michael J. Jacobides. Professor Jacobides work on business ecosystems is at the heart of the vision for the future of the energy market, as laid out in Caldwell’s article. Highlights include:
- How Big Tech offers a model for the orchestrator function in ecosystem industries;
- Why renewable energy is in need of a structural ‘ecosystem’ revolution, in order to move beyond the dominance of traditional fossil fuels;
- The missing orchestration firms in the clean energy sector today;
- The risks to existing market agents and consumers in such a shift.
United Renewables, the firm founded by Caldwell and which produces Conversations on Climate, is a full-cycle green energy project manager. It currently operates dozens of projects across a range of technologies – including solar, wind, tidal and anaerobic – and is an experienced operator in the climate infrastructure market. Once projects have been successfully conceived, funded and built, United Renewables uses in-house technology and expertise to maximise the storage, delivery and commercial return of these assets. As a energy provider which operates within the national electrical grid system, its business would be directly affected by the ecosystem shift Caldwell has laid out; the impacts of such a revolution on existing technologies and market players is one of the elements Caldwell addresses in his call for change.
Conversations on Climate invites leading academics and business leaders to offer their expertise to bring a new angle to the climate change debate. Previous guests include Professor Jacobides, Sir Andrew Likierman, Kritika Kumar, Paul Beijer, and Professor Jean-Pierre Benoît
