Blockchain meets Energy – Digital Solutions for a Decentralized and Decarbonized Sector

The digitalization of the energy industry is continuing to gain momentum. Blockchain2 technology, which can bring far-reaching changes in the energy sector, is currently emerging as a new driver of this rapid development. Blockchains are a special kind of data management system that identifies and tracks changes (transactions) within the system digitally and shares this information with the distributed computers connected to the network. These computers check and add new entries (transactions) into the ledger if proven correct by the majority of the computers connected to the system. Cryptographic encryption, transparency and economic incentives keep any malicious computer from entering wrong new entries.

Blockchains have the potential to optimize energy management processes in almost all stages of the value chain and at the same time to cope with the growing complexity in the increasingly decentralized energy system. Even if the general conditions for blockchain projects are very different in the international context, the basic application possibilities are similar. In order to really be able to use the actual added value of the technology, however, it is necessary to consider fundamentally new, decentralized structures – towards a blockchain thinking.