Energy flexibility in retail buildings: From a business ecosystem perspective

Retail buildings has an important role for demand side energy flexibility because of their high energy consumption, variety of energy flexibility resources, and centralized control via building control systems. Energy flexibility requires agreements and collaborations among different actors. However, the stakeholders' reaction to energy flexibility have not been fully investigated. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the stakeholder involvement in energy flexibility by applying the business ecosystem concept (including actors, relationships, value alliances, and influential factors), with the discussion of the stakeholders' roles and their interrelation in delivering energy flexibility with the influential factors to the actual implementation of energy flexible operation of their buildings. Based on a literature analysis, the results cover stakeholders' types and roles, perceptions (drivers, barriers, and benefits), energy management activities and technology adoptions, and the stakeholders' interaction for the energy flexibility in retail buildings.