The ‘Glue’ That Will Connect The Future Electric Grid Will Be Blockchain

A single Blockchain electric utility would provide energy to a large number of clients in one way. However, the grid is growing to the point where millions of devices will purchase and sell, trade, and share electricity, system services, and data in real-time in various ways.

Energy research laboratories in the United States have begun creating blockchain-based platforms to manage these transactions. Tony Markel, a researcher at the NRE Laboratory, said, “We’ve got a fascinating possibility here.” “We see the electricity grid going through an interesting transformation, with many things being regulated from a central standpoint, moving out, and a lot of distributed energy resources and a lot of—having millions to billions of devices out there on the power grid.”

“And we’ll be in a condition where we have no idea what all of those things are doing.” They could all be pursuing different goals. So, I believe that where we’re going with understanding blockchain and establishing a knowledge base around blockchain is seeing that future state and realizing that we need a mechanism to develop and maintain trust across that entire extremely complicated, highly dispersed ecosystem.”

The word “trust” is crucial. These days, blockchain is frequently connected with cryptocurrencies, which rely on the technology’s ability to provide trust or, at the very least, transparency. A dependable hyper ledger transparent to numerous stakeholders will be required for the future grid.

“Blockchain… is a distributed digital record of actions agreed upon and done by various parties,” Pete Tseronis, moderator of an NREL session on the future of blockchain for energy systems, explained. “Don’t get it mixed up with the entire crypto business, people. It does, however, provide mathematical proof regarding the status of data, and it’s often connected with cryptocurrencies, although cryptography and consensus procedures are at the heart of it. The goal is to establish a trustworthy relationship.”

As their piece of the grid develops, Southern California Edison is one of the utilities keeping a close eye on the government’s blockchain initiatives.

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“There’s a lot more complex and more devices,” he says. If you think about it, it’s exploding,” said Anthony James, a data scientist and senior engineer with SCE. “Data will be used more, moving from static worlds to more real-time applications, thanks to inverters, electric vehicles, and connected buildings.” As a result, there appears to be a solid, strong, and persuasive fit with blockchain that is worth investigating. The first two qualities that sprang to mind were data integrity and trust.”

Blockchain technology in electricity sector

According to James, blockchain might assist in managing cyber.

“The system is just changing,” said Dave Benton, a cybersecurity researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. “It’s changing to suit the new demands of distributed energy,” says the author. More wind, solar, and batteries are needed. And we can’t take that trip without first understanding how security will be impacted and how security will need to adapt as a result of these new technologies. As a result, given our job at the lab, we must consider how the grid will appear in two to three years and how we will handle this. And if technology like blockchain can serve as the glue or fabric that binds it all together, that’s where we want to go.”

According to Christopher Irwin, a program manager with the US Department of Energy, blockchain will provide utilities less control than conventional systems, but it will help the system run better. He compares the transition to the introduction of anti-lock brakes in automobiles, which gave drivers less control over their brakes, which was beneficial.

He described anti-lock braking as “much more complex.” “You won’t have much control over the situation.” And you’ll be pleased with the results.

“It’s a fantastic metaphor for the grid; we’re complicating it.” “We’re transferring control away from that centralized source because the performance could not be achieved any other way,” he explained. “Of course, blockchain plays a role because we need the most efficient system for maintaining confidence between parties, where we’ll never be able to trust each other perfectly, but we can figure out a means to make a transaction happen.”