A recent report from the US nonprofit think tank details blockchain technology’s potential role in electric power systems.
Researchers David Livingston, Varun Sivaram, Madison Freeman, and Maximilian Fiege from the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), an independent, nonpartisan US think tank focused on foreign policy, published a July discussion paper[1] titled Applying Blockchain Technology to Electric Power Systems that highlights blockchain technology's application to the electric power sector. The paper covers three energy use cases and offers recommendations for policymakers.
Due to various changes in the sector, complexities have been introduced into electric power systems, namely, an increase in distributed power generation, a different approach to grid management, and the digitalization of electric power sources. According to the researchers, blockchain could "be a tool for managing" such complexities.
The report goes on to note that startups are the main players spearheading blockchain-based energy solutions; in fact, they raised over $300 million from March 2017 to March 2018 for this purpose. However, there are numerous utility-sponsored initiatives, from the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO[2]) to Germany's E.ON, that are also participating in the space. All these organizations are "harness[ing] blockchain in myriad ways."
The researchers then evaluate three recent examples of blockchain's application to the energy sector. One use case is the Brooklyn Microgrid[3], which is a project from startup LO3 Energy "to network thousands of Brooklyn residents in a self-sufficient microgrid, which is a small electricity network with its own sources of supply that can function independently of the main grid."
However, the paper indicates that the first iteration of the project does not fulfill the startup's goals – it "does not provide resilience, cost, or sustainability benefits." The researchers suggest that LO3 collaborate with utilities and regulators to
