More than 900 companies operate electricity supply networks in Germany. A similar situation is found in the other supply networks such as gas, water, sewage and district heating. The size of the companies, their number of employees, the size of the networks and the number of households supplied vary considerably. All providers face the same major technical, social and organisational challenges. The energy transition and the increasing importance of the societal discussion on the security of critical infrastructures are already placing new demands on the operators of distribution grids. The thesis of the research project is: A security management corresponding to the new challenges cannot be provided by small grid operators. Using historical and organisational sociological approaches, the project team is researching the circumstances under which cooperations of distribution grid operators can meet the challenges of security management. The aim of the research project is to develop new business models for distribution grid operators and fault clearance services. In doing so, security must not become a bottomless pit, but should be understood as an attractive business field. nexus is responsible for work package 5 “Innovative Business Models for Security” in the Innogesi project and cooperates with Netzgesellschaft Berlin-Brandenburg (NBB) and the Competence Centre Critical Infrastructures (KKI).

Duration: 10/2012 – 09/2015
Client: Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Team: Dr. Hans-Liudger Dienel (Project manager), Kerstin Franzl, Christoph Henseler

Project partner:
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Systeminnovation mbH (GESI)
Hamburgisches WeltWirtschaftsInstitut gGmbH (HWWI)
Kompetenzzentrum Versicherungswissenschaften GmbH (IVBL)
Institut für Anlagen und Systemtechnologien der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster (IAS)
Deutsches Institut für Normung e.V.
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Qualität e.V. (DGQ)
NBB Netzgesellschaft Berlin-Brandenburg
Kompetenzzentrum Kritische Infrastrukturen e.V.