The following is a viewpoint by Kevin Stevens, partner at Intelis Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in the digitization of analog industries. Until recently, access to data on blockchain experiments in the energy sector has been fairly limited. However, things are starting to change. Last year, startups raised $300 million through both traditional venture capital and initial coin offerings (ICOs). Two of the most heralded fundings came from Drift (consumer-to-generation) and LO3 Energy (peer-to-peer), both of whom are looking to connect consumers to the energy provider of their choice with distributed ledgers. As I explained in a post earlier this year , electricity trading transactions are still tracked in Excel or databases that rarely are connected but owned by large corporations. This system adds millions in additional transaction costs and makes full transparency between market actors almost impossible.

A de-centralized ledger solves almost all of these errors and would empower new entrants (i.e., consumers with excess power capacity due to solar panels) to enter the market. Other than the power trading market, we see three major use cases for blockchain technology to impact the grid. Utility Dive: Demand Response is the free newsletter designed for demand response practitioners. From load management to dynamic pricing, this weekly digest will keep you up-to-speed on the latest trends in demand response. get the free newsletter According to McKinsey, the connected-home market is growing at a rate of 31% year-over-year with about 30 million homes having some form of internet of things device installed. The long-term result will be unparalleled access to data for grid operators and utilities. Blockchain has the opportunity to help solve the problems of cybersecurity and data management that will come with this new paradigm. Without access to world-class software talent, these incumbent market participants will need […]