Emerging Technologies, Innovations Ecosystem and Business Models in Blockchain-based Energy Trading
The recent trends in the energy industry such as the rise in prosumerism and increasing deployment of smart meters has resulted in better data analytics, storage and communication solutions to the energy industry. These factors have enabled the conventional end users to take part in energy transactions in the form of supporting the grid during peak hours and help maintain the stability. This highly distributed energy scenario has its challenges in the form of monitoring and controlling every energy transaction made. These challenges call for better solutions to keep track of the energy exported into the grid and also in helping the transacting bodies reach consensus regarding the amount of power exported.
Blockchain is a distributed, digital data ledger that enables the storage of digital transaction in a secure and highly transparent manner. It provides a decentralized control and enabling visibility to every party involved. As each transaction is visible and each transaction or block is linked to the previous transaction or block, the chain provides clear information about the transactions, including the times at which they occurred. Each of this block is entered only if a particular set of user defined conditions are met. Adoption of blockchain in energy sector has potential to empower the end user with better visibility over the transaction and help them understand the revenue generation model. This is expected to encourage the participation of more prosumers, enabling a highly distributed energy scenario in a more controlled and secure manner.
