Table 3 Roles in different time frames
From: Reshaping roles and value logics among distributed system operators for future electricity systems
Role | Example | Value logics represented | Actions | Note on urban/rural setting | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Short term | Medium term | Long term | ||||
Facilitator for increased collaboration | Coordinate collaboration between local energy resource owners | Municipal Market Community | Focus on relations with larger consumers | Increase focus on more customer types and between customer relations | Add all customer types including households | Larger urban setting is more complex, the rural DSO already has adequate relations with many user types |
Communicator | Increase citizen knowledge by info sharing and active nudging | Municipal | Efficient messages to consumers on small behaviour changes will have large effects | Communicate challenges and let consumers be part of the solutions | Established relations and communication channels | Again, relations are crucial and more complex in larger urban settings |
Balancing actor | DSO become a smaller scale TSO for local resources in their grid responsibility area | Market Community | Provide a local platform for trading electricity | Commercial trade with flexibility, platform provided by another part, e.g., aggregator | Buy system services from established markets to balance the local grid | Market participation is more explicitly stated by the urban DSO. Rural DSO instead discusses its responsibility for local markets |
Sustainable developer | Facilitate industrial actors to electrify operations and reduce climate impact | Municipal Community | Increase the scope of current responsibilities and be active in just development for consumers | Â | Provide sustainable and just energy systems to all consumers | Urban DSO focuses added role of sustainable developer, while rural DSO focuses just transition and user perspective |