Contributing to commercialisation and business model efforts within the oPEN Lab project, Bax Innovation has recently published a new report. The report “Implementation Plans for 12 Sustainable Investment Programmes Towards PENs” proposes how Positive Energy Neighbourhoods (PENs) can scale from their current position as niche pilots into mainstream urban infrastructure, aligned with Europe’s new strategic goals of industrial resilience and economic competitiveness.
As part of this assignment, Bax developed and tested a “PEN Readiness” methodology, evaluating 12 European cities using across Political, Economic, Societal, and Technological (PEST) domains of innovation and maturity. The analysis found that while PEN technologies are mature, scaling up is often stalled by barriers including administration, public sector capacity, and outdated energy markets that prohibit cost-effective energy sharing. The report categorises cities into three implementation clusters: “Advanced Followers” facing administrative hurdles despite technical maturity, “Grid-Constrained Cities” delayed by physical grid limits despite financial resources, and “Legacy Regulators” hindered by outdated energy market rules. Bax’s findings provide tailored roadmaps to each Cluster, helping to unlock new private capital and accelerate PEN adoption across Europe.
Read the full report here.
