A Star Is Born? Take it easy, not so fast. Part 15

Smart Grid

„The next phase of the journey is to move from speculation to actual use cases – people getting into Bitcoin because they want to use it." (Adam Draper, venture capital investor)

Inspirational song, Riders On The Storm - The Doors 1965-1973

The Smart Grid is basically an instance of the Internet of Things. Due to the complexity of the power grid, there are far-reaching challenges.

The energy sector is currently shaped by two major trends. First, renewable energy sources, with their volatile supply, require improved coordination of supply and demand in the grid.

Second, this feed is often no longer - as in the past - at a few, central points (large power plants), but decentralized in the area. Decentralization is not only spatial, but also organizational.

Instead of fewer power plant operators, every homeowner with a photovoltaic system can participate in the electricity market today.

For example, it is discussed that prosumer consumed or themselves generated electricity no longer trade with their respective electricity supplier, but with other prosumers in the net.

In the sense of the Internet of Things, this could even be directly related to individual devices, for example a photovoltaic system could supply and charge its electricity directly to an electric car.

Due to the limited trustworthiness of such arbitrary actors in one decentralized electricity market, the blockchain technology with its possibility of Value transfer is an ideal basis.