Solar business models from a firm perspective – an empirical study of the Swedish market

A worldwide transition towards sustainable energy systems requires the diffusion of renewable electricity technologies. To achieve this, recent research has put emphasis on the role of business models as catalysts for sustainability transitions, particularly in the case of solar photovoltaics. Authors have identified a variety of solar business models that can be characterized based on roles, activities, and applications. In contrast, on the market, solar firms use business models to communicate their offer to clients, focusing on customers’ needs, how they organize their resources and activities to meet these needs and, in return, create value for themselves. The aim of this paper is to bridge the gap between the way energy policy literature describes solar business models, and the way solar firms use them to communicate with their clients. The business models of 241 solar firms in Sweden were mapped and analyzed using a framework developed by Richardson (2008) as well as the roles, activities, and applications as highlighted in solar business model literature. This led us to identify six types of solar business models. We found that there are some gaps and overlaps between theoretical and empirical solar business models which, in turn, have implications for theory and policy.