DER Customer Insights: a values-based approach to motivate new DER customers

Bloomberg New Energy Finance forecasts that approximately one-third of Australia’s electricity capacity will sit behind-the-meter by 2035 [1]. These resources – including solar,batteries, and demand management – are known as distributed energy resources (DER). As market forces drive Australia towards a more decentralized energy system, it is important to more deeply understand the customers that DER products and projects are seeking to serve.

To better understand DER customers, the customer experience was analysed from twenty DER projects funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA, Figure 1). The core research question was: How can consumer insights from ARENA-funded projects be unlocked and shared to support the continued growth of DER in Australia? In particular:

What types of customers were targeted in the projects? How can future DER projectsfind the right types of customers?

What inherently motivates customers? What engagement strategies could encouragecustomers to participate in future DER projects?