Smart Energy Management. A Viable Systems Approach perspective

Energy is a complex issue to deal with, and the paper’s purpose is to decline a systems theory reflections capable of interpreting complex phenomena in order to better design and manage future energy agendas. Achieving an efficient matching of energy demand and supply needs, introducing a market mechanism for the allocation and pricing of energy resources especially take the specific requirements of energy producers and consumers into account. Moreover, many other actors ought to be taken into considerations; among these for certain all world population and future generations. It seems that energy is a socio-economic topic that needs to be approached with network and complexity theories due to the number of interested parties and the numerous perspectives with which it can be viewed and analyzed. Furthermore, Smart Energy Grid requires continuous improvement in the interactions among system elements in order to optimizing resource allocation, collaborative advantages and cooperative strategies, indeed for the systemic equilibrium within the complex service systems related the energy services provision. The new logic of co-creation of value is win-win, which considers the interaction among several entities represented by a number of Service Systems, and the desire to gain a collective mutual satisfaction, in which the active contribution is multiple, the integration is maximal, complementarity is crucial. The paper suggests that the Viable Systems Approach (VSA), a methodological key based on systems theory and relationships, useful for the interpretation of complex phenomena, might be promising to support world community discussion upon energy, both in terms of value co-creation processes and of the general behavior of nowadays smart service systems. For the energy issue, one of possible solution can be the implementing of Demand-Side-Management (DSM), able to allow distributed energy storages and advanced communication technological network for renewable generations in the grid. VSA, in fact, focuses on the analysis of relationships among socio-economic actors in search of viable interacting conditions, and this may support the valorization of all interested parties expectations, giving voice to all the actors interested in the energy topic.