In order to mitigate climate change, human activity needs to be decarbonised through a phase-out of fossil fuels, replaced by renewable energy sources. Here, sustainable business models can play an important role through connecting niche renewable technologies to the wider system and thereby allowing them to diffuse. Alternative business models towards the traditional centralised utility model have emerged, but remain poorly developed, and understood, especially their impact on transition dynamics over time. Therefore, this study combines business model research with the multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions, in order to investigate how emerging sustainable business models in Germany co-evolve with the country’s energy system over time. The three studied business models are tenant electricity, community microgrid and virtual power plant. To this end, the study applied a qualitative research approach, involving an interview, survey and document review in order assess with which transition pathways, based on the multi-level perspective, the three studied business models share most characteristics with. The results suggest that community microgrid currently follows a substitution pathway, in which old regime structures are replaced over time. The business model of tenant electricity is still stuck in its niche, but under adjusting regulatory structures expected to follow a transformative pathway with minor regime adjustments, while the basic regime architecture remains unchanged. Lastly, virtual power plants as a symbiotic business model shares most characteristics with a reconfiguration pathway, in which it triggers internal change and over time can result in major structural reconfigurations. These results underline that not only the type of employed technology plays a crucial role, but also how it is made available to society in form of business models. Further, the alignment with different transitional pathways provides a more nuanced perspective on how different business model types co-relate and impact transition dynamics and thereby provides a basis for future discussions around how a sustainable energy transition can be steered towards a more democratic and inclusive energy system.

Transitions to more sustainable technologies and processes are a largely discussed topic that concerns several, if not all, global industries. This thesis studies the novel technology of electric passenger aviation as a sustainable option in the aviation industry. The study examines the prospects of electric passenger planes in Sweden specifically and is based on the perspective of established actors within the Swedish aviation industry. As such, the results of the study revolves partly around the technological capabilities of electric planes, and partly around the economical, social and political aspects necessary to make electric planes commercially viable. To assist in examining these diverse aspects, the thesis evaluates the technology from the viewpoint of a socio-technical system, using the theoretical framework of the multi-level perspective to guide the study. The results have found that electric passenger planes are likely to be introduced into the Swedish aviation market in the coming years. However, their long term success is not guaranteed and depends on multiple factors. Key challenges include: the development of battery technology, financial viability compared to alternative sustainable travel solutions, and consumers willingness to change travel habits. These challenges come as a consequence of the relatively short flight range of electric aircrafts, which in turn is due to the low energy density of the batteries being used. / Hållbarhet är ett koncept som diskuteras allt mer frekvent kring både processer och teknologier, inom många, om inte alla globala industrier. Denna uppsats studerar den nya tekniska utvecklingen kring elektriska passagerarplan som ett hållbart alternativ inom flyindustrin.  Studien undersöker de framtida möjligheterna för elektriska passagerarplan att etablera sig på en svensk marknad och baseras på perspektiv från etablerade aktörer inom svensk flygindustri. Således fokuseras studiens resultat dels på tekniska detaljer kring elflygplan, dels på ekonomsika, sociala och politiska aspekter som krävs för att kommersialisera elektriska passagerarplan. För att undersöka dessa olika aspekter använder studien ett socio-teknsikt system perspektiv, samt tar guidning av ett teoretiskt ramverk som på engelska kallas multi-level perspective.  Resultaten från studien indikerar att elektriska passagerarplan troligen kommer att introduceras inom den svenska flygmarknaden under kommande år. Dock är deras långsiktiga framgång inte garanterad och beror på ett antal faktorer. Noterbara utmaningar som identifieras är: Utvecklingen av batteriteknik, finansiell stabilitet jämfört med andra hållbara flygalternativ, och konsumenters villighet att ändra sina flygvanor. Dessa utmaningar är kopplade till den relativt korta räckvidden elektriska flygplan besitter, vilket i sin tur beror på den långa energidensiteten hos de batterier som används.

There is currently an ongoing transition into more sustainable aviation. One of the sustainable alternatives to the conventional fossil-fueled aircraft is electric aviation. The research aim of the study could be divided into two parts. The first part was to identify the barriers to the development of electric aviation in Sweden. The second part was to ascertain if and, in that case, how the process to reach dominant design can be affected by the actors. Empirical data was mainly gathered through semi-structured interviews. In order to address the research aim, a theoretical framework built upon theories from both multi-level perspective and dominant design theory was used. There were barriers arising from Financial, Regulatory & Political, Business Model & Legitimacy, and Technical conditions. The theoretical analysis implied the existence of two socio-technical gates. These gates consist of collaboration and legitimacy aspects. Metaphorically passing through these gates would make overcoming the relevant barriers much easier. This would also align all elements of the transition, which makes it possible for the actors to affect the process of achieving dominant design. / Det pågår en övergång till mer hållbart flyg. Ett exempel på dessa hållbara flyg är elektriska flygplan. Målet med studien kan delas upp i två delar. Den första delen är att identifiera barriärerna som hindrar utvecklingen av dessa elektriska flygplan. Den andra delen är att ta reda på om och i så fall hur processen för att nå en dominant design på marknaden kan påverkas av aktörerna. Insamlingen av data gjordes huvudsakligen med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Teorier från “multi-levelperspective” och dominant design-teori har använts. Resultaten visar på att det finns möjliga barriärer för utvecklingen inom områden av ekonomi, regelverk, affärsmodeller och legitimitet samt teknik. Analysen implicerar existensen av två “socio-tekniska portar”. Dessa består av legitimitet och samarbete mellan aktörer. Genom att bildligt passera genom dessa portar blir det mycket enklare att överbrygga alla relaterade barriärer. Detta riktar också alla element i övergången mot sammahåll. Det i sin tur möjliggör att aktörerna kan påverka processen för att nå den dominanta designen.