Blockchain – from Nowhere to Everywhere

One day, the energy grid could look completely different than it does today. Instead of big power plants sending electrons over long distances to people’s homes, we might generate more power locally using solar panels, and homeowners might become makers and traders of power as well as passive consumers. If so, blockchain technology could help keep track of electrons flowing through the system, energy futurists say. Just as the blockchain has allowed people to track and authenticate Bitcoin transactions, it could help mediate transactions of energy units through a cooperative, decentralized network, they believe. Although there’s a lot interest in using blockchain for energy trading, it may be some time before we see the technology at scale. The energy market is highly regulated and change is slow. However, it seems like all the building blocks are in place for a completely different sort of power system to emerge. In the future, we could really be transacting electrons with our neighbors.