Certain blockchains permit participants in a network to transact directly with each other securely, cutting out third-party intermediaries and enabling peer-to-peer transactions. However, the capability of this technology extends beyond merely the financial sector as it can also be harnessed to transform the renewable energy industry. 

Blockchain-powered platforms are set to reshape the renewable energy industry, for example: 

• from certifying the source of green energy by allocating generation assets to a specific point of consumption, 

• by helping to make the energy grid more accessible through data-sharing in real-time, 

• through enabling transactions between two parties. 

The establishment of the provenance of electricity supplies by enabling tracked, verifiable, and secure transactions between the parties is a key challenge Blockchain technology can establish. Furthermore, this enables the bypassing of intermediaries (and their associated fees and inefficiencies) to transfer goods and information between buyers and sellers. Blockchain technology empowers people to become prosumers, i.e., producing and selling power and therefore resulting in a far greater decentralised and distributed energy sharing system. 

                                     Sources of UK national grid electricity generation * This is updated very 30 mins

Source: Grid.iamkate.com

The benefit of blockchain in the energy industry

Our reliance on electricity seems to grow and grow and the energy industry has been consistently catalysed by innovations such as electric vehicles, smart metering and rooftop solar, amongst others. With the potential to transform the energy industry, Blockchain technology arises as the next emerging technology to stimulate growth in the energy sector through its smart contracts and systems interoperability. The interest in Blockchain technology is furthermore being fuelled by concerns about climate change and the desire for organisations to improve their Environmental Social corporate Governance (ESG) credentials. One very tangible way to help the world is to use more renewable energy (such as solar), but one needs to be sure of how the electricity consumed was generated in the first place.

Blockchain technology use cases are very varied and indeed there are many identified benefits of using blockchains in the energy industry, all whilst helping the environment. These include a new business model for energy markets, real-time data management and moving carbon credits or renewable energy certificates onto blockchain-powered platforms. Blockchain technology has the potential to improve efficiencies for utility providers by tracking the chain of custody over power grids. Aside from this, it offers unique solutions for renewable energy distribution. Legacy energy suppliers in the petroleum sector suffer from a complex network of participants and supply chains which often lead to inefficiencies. There are a number of initiatives including, Komgo, Vakt and dltledgers that have been developed to help improve the way petrochemical firms using Blockchain technology operate. For other examples of how Blockchain technology is being used in the energy sector, Consenys has highlighted a range of other case studies. 

Application of Blockchain technology in the energy sector

There are a few challenges that plague the popularising renewable energy usage. Two of these are the difficulty in handling renewable energy and the cost associated with proving that the energy comes from a renewable source - an overhead not required by other power generators. Blockchain technology may help solve these challenges. Without a doubt, as a promising technology, blockchains can be utilised in the energy sector for recording and facilitating transactions between generators and consumers of energy. Included in this used are:

• peer-to-peer (P2P) electricity trading: many P2P platforms have been developed and several additional projects are underway. Part of the aims of these platforms is to sell excess renewable energy to other network participants through automated smart contracts.

• the management of renewable energy certificates, grid management, electric vehicle charging and sharing are also part of the application of Blockchain technology in the renewable energy sector.

• the Integrated Demand Response has shown, beyond doubt, to be effective in improving the operating flexibility of the system and energy utilisation efficiency via optimisation of the operations of flexible loads, energy conversion and storage equipment on the demand side.

Would you invest if this were all you knew about the founder?

Source: Upsplash

This is not the total sum of anonymity in the industry since many crypto projects, too, have anonymous investors/shareholders and developers. An example of such a crypto project has been Wonderland, where investors gave money to pseudonymous developers and suffered a calamitous setback. The project’s treasury manager, who went by the name, oxSifu, turned out to be Michael Patryn - a man who had served 18 months in federal prison for fraud. This information came as a considerable shock to members of frog nation (the community’s investors) with the repercussions resulting in a 50/50 vote on the future of the project - either to continue or terminate. 

Furthermore, anonymous investors and founders have been discovered to be easily engineering ‘rug pulls’- scams where a crypto developer promotes a new project to unsuspecting investors and then disappears with their cash. A recent example of this can be seen in AnubisDAO; its anonymous founders and board members raised almost $60 million in 2021 before they disappeared with the funds. Unsurprisingly, this serves only to make people averse to anonymity around stakeholders, founders or project personnel. The actual individual who uncovered Wonderland’s oxSifu has also recently stated that an additional anonymous leader at another crypto project had once been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Amazingly, the said person reveals all this with an anonymous account on Twitter. And therein lies the dilemma of the situation….

However, one of the reasons why people prefer to remain anonymous and undercover from hackers is that founders and owners of strongly performing tokens are an ideal target for the unscrupulous. Hence, fear of doxxing undoubtedly exists i.e., making the directors’/founders’/advisors’ personal details public exposes them as targets for hacks. So, how can one balance the desire to keep one’s personal information secure but offer confidence and insight to those potential investors whom the start-up directors are trying to attract? A potential solution to this conundrum is self-sovereign identity (SSI) using firms such as cheqd, a company tackling this problem with its incentivised, decentralised identity network for digital credentials. SSI also enables new business models for a verifiable credential by rewarding everyone in the ecosystem. SSI offers a solution through which digital data belonging to people and organisations is securely exchanged in an orderly manner. This way, people are still in charge of their data.

However, if you are concerned about doxxing and wish to know more about how you can protect yourself, either this article from Slate.com may prove to be a good 5-minute read, otherwise this article from NordVPN also offers some helpful tips. The crypto industry still has a long way to go if it is to achieve mass adoption. People need to feel comfortable revealing their personal details especially if they holding cryptocurrencies as they may attract the attention of hackers. Cryptocurrencies are a new form of value transfer for all shareholders, and project participants certainly need to be rest assured their investments are safe.