Delta-EE has been looking at blockchain for a while now but, despite the hype, has so far found little evidence that it is making any significant contribution to new energy.  

So why is there so much hype around blockchain?

The hype surrounding blockchain in energy has undoubtedly dropped off since 2017, as the realities of moving towards commercialisation has proved far harder than many expected back then.

Most of blockchain’s potential applications to new energy, like virtual community energy trading, EV charging roaming and green energy verification, remain as small pilot projects. Whilst it does still generate interest when brought up at energy industry and tech conferences, those working with blockchain day-to-day are trying to shift the conversation away from the underlying technology and towards the solutions it provides. However, the current reality is that it is ‘permissioned’ blockchains that make most sense for energy applications, and there are two key challenges that we think may hold it back.

In a previous blog post, fellow Analyst Tom Jamieson introduced the concept of using blockchain technology in the energy sector. In this post we’ll introduce how a particular use case of the technology, peer-to-peer (P2P) trading, could have a positive impact on microgrids.

Microgrids, as discussed previously in a Delta-ee blog post  and webinar, are fast becoming a key topic of commercial relevance in many global markets. This is due to an increasingly distributed energy system, rapidly falling energy storage costs, and a growing demand for flexibility and energy autonomy among other aspects.