Blockchain-based applications and business models could help increase the overall efficiency of future energy networks
Will blockchain-based, transactive applications be a force in energy transformation?
Siemens’ Divisions Energy Management and Power Generation Services have joined the Energy Web Foundation (EWF), an alliance for blockchain developments specifically for the energy industry.
The non-profit organisation’s mission is to accelerate the commercial deployment of blockchain technology in the energy sector.
Shaping the energy future
As an EWF member organisation, Siemens said it aims to proactively shape the future of blockchain-based, transactive energy applications, new prosumer-centric use cases as well as business models around operation of distributed energy systems, microgrids and financing.
According to Siemens, transactive energy applications will be a major force in the transformation of the energy sector towards decentralised, decarbonised and digitised energy systems, where distributed energy resources (DERs) such as solar, wind, stationary storage systems, electric vehicles, heat pumps and others as well as flexible loads are playing an ever increasing role.
At the same time, new forms of plant and project financing are needed. Blockchain technology enables transactions in a decentralised network to be validated efficiently and securely.
“By combining microgrid control solutions and blockchain technology, operators of photovoltaic systems can feed excess electricity into the existing local grid”
This enables new business models of energy and flexibility trading between consumers, prosumers, producers and network operators, taking into account user preferences and network restrictions. Ultimately, blockchain-based applications and business models could help increase the overall efficiency of future energy networks and enable new forms of asset and project financing, it reports.
Siemens is already using blockchain technology to help its customers develop new forms of energy or offer solutions and services for optimised control of energy generation and consumption. By combining microgrid control solutions and blockchain technology, operators of photovoltaic systems can feed excess electricity into the existing local grid and receive their compensation directly from the customers, for instance, their neighbours.
To further develop this technology and the new business models based on it, Siemens is collaborating with New York start-up LO3 Energy in the areas of innovative microgrids and peer-to-peer energy trading platforms and is currently implementing its first project in Brooklyn.
Source: smartcitiesworld.net
