Strategies for the emergence of a dominant design for heat storage systems

Figures & data

Table 1. Interviewee details.

#	Background	Expertise	Function
1	Academia/Industry	Energy built environment, international cooperation, and renewables.	Programme Manager Energy Built Environment
2	Academia/Industry	Aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) technology and subsurface geothermal energy storage systems.	Part-time researcher
3	Academia	Engineering thermodynamics, refrigeration engineering and indoor climate control.	Associate Professor
4	Academia	Energy technology, turbulence, aeroacoustics and numerical simulation.	Chair, Energy Technology a department focusing on Process & Energy
5	Academia/Industry	Energy market developments and its impact on the organisation and operation of energy companies. Strategic and tactical consultancy in the energy and utilities world.	Senior Research Fellow, Associated Partner

Table 2. Local and global average weights.

Categories/factors	Expert 1	Expert 2	Expert 3	Expert 4	Expert 5	Local average weight	Global average weight^1
Characteristics of the technology supporter	0.18	0.04	0.11	0.05	0.11	0.10
Financial strength	0.18	0.05	0.07	0.05	0.18	0.10	0.01
Brand reputation and credibility	0.07	0.52	0.14	0.51	0.05	0.26	0.02
Operational supremacy	0.52	0.31	0.28	0.22	0.64	0.40	0.04
Learning orientation	0.23	0.12	0.51	0.22	0.13	0.24	0.02
Technological superiority	0.45	0.22	0.19	0.48	0.44	0.36
Trustworthiness, safety, and energy extraction rate	0.83	0.25	0.90	0.25	0.88	0.62	0.22
Capacity	0.17	0.75	0.10	0.75	0.13	0.38	0.13
Technology support strategy	0.14	0.49	0.50	0.11	0.05	0.26
Pricing strategy	0.45	0.46	0.43	0.17	0.11	0.33	0.08
Appropriability strategy	0.17	0.08	0.10	0.26	0.48	0.22	0.06
Timing of entry	0.13	0.12	0.05	0.04	0.27	0.12	0.03
Marketing communications	0.17	0.30	0.17	0.13	0.09	0.17	0.04
Distribution strategy	0.08	0.04	0.25	0.39	0.05	0.16	0.04
Other stakeholders	0.05	0.13	0.05	0.09	0.29	0.12
Regulator	0.49	0.52	0.50	0.45	0.22	0.44	0.05
Suppliers	0.26	0.20	0.15	0.23	0.59	0.29	0.04
Effectiveness of the technology development process	0.07	0.20	0.06	0.09	0.10	0.10	0.01
Network of stakeholders	0.18	0.09	0.29	0.23	0.09	0.18	0.02
Market characteristics	0.18	0.13	0.14	0.27	0.11	0.17
Bandwagon effects	0.47	0.22	0.16	0.43	0.55	0.37	0.06
Network externalities	0.18	0.13	0.24	0.16	0.05	0.15	0.03
Number of options available	0.14	0.13	0.06	0.16	0.17	0.13	0.02
Rate of change	0.07	0.04	0.12	0.07	0.14	0.09	0.01
Switching costs	0.14	0.48	0.42	0.16	0.10	0.26	0.04

Table 3. Consistency ratio results.

	Expert
	1	2	3	4	5	Average
Categories	0.09	0.16	0.07	0.07	0.19	0.12
Characteristics of the technology supporter	0.18	0.10	0.05	0.15	0.26	0.15
Technological superiority	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Technology support strategy	0.06	0.14	0.07	0.13	0.07	0.09
Other stakeholders	0.04	0.07	0.08	0.02	0.08	0.06
Market characteristics	0.08	0.17	0.07	0.06	0.14	0.10

Table 4. Ranking of alternatives.

	Sensible heat storage		Latent heat storage		Thermochemical heat storage
	Performance score^2	Weighted score**^3	Performance score	Weighted score	Performance score	Weighted score
Characteristics of the technology supporter
Financial strength	4.25	0.04	5.5	0.06	5.75	0.06
Brand reputation and credibility	4.25	0.11	4.25	0.11	4.25	0.11
Operational supremacy	5.25	0.20	5.5	0.21	5.5	0.21
Learning orientation	4.25	0.10	5.5	0.13	5.25	0.12
Technological superiority
Trustworthiness, safety, and energy extraction rate	4.5	1.00	5.75	1.28	4.5	1.00
Capacity	2.75	0.37	6.25	0.84	4.75	0.64
Technology support strategy
Pricing strategy	6.5	0.54	5	0.42	4.5	0.38
Appropriability strategy	4	0.22	5.75	0.32	6.75	0.38
Timing of entry	6.25	0.20	5.75	0.18	3.75	0.12
Marketing communications	5.25	0.23	5	0.22	5	0.22
Distribution strategy	5.75	0.24	5	0.21	4.5	0.18
Other stakeholders
Regulator	5.5	0.29	5.5	0.29	4.5	0.24
Suppliers	6	0.21	5	0.18	4	0.14
Effectiveness of the Technology development process	5.5	0.07	4.5	0.06	4.75	0.06
Network of stakeholders	5.5	0.12	5	0.11	5.75	0.12
Market characteristics
Bandwagon effects	3.75	0.23	3.75	0.23	5.5	0.34
Network externalities	2.5	0.06	2.75	0.07	4.5	0.12
Number of options available	3.75	0.08	3.25	0.07	5.25	0.12
Rate of change	3.5	0.05	4.75	0.07	4.25	0.06
Switching costs	4.75	0.21	6.5	0.28	4.75	0.21
		4.58		5.33		4.82