Blockchain NZ and its Power to Revolutionise Electric Power

Blockchain NZ, also known formerly Blockchain Association of NZ (BANZ) is part of the NZ Tech Alliance. Their goal is for NZ to become a global hub for blockchain innovation. It is an association of organisations and individuals representing the rapidly emerging business sector and those engaged in the wider global Financial Services, IT, and public sector communities. Blockchain NZ provides New Zealand businesses and individuals opportunities for connecting, promoting and advancing in all things blockchain, crypto and decentralisation.

Blockchain NZ published a report in December 2018: Distributed ledgers and blockchain are anticipated to provide a significant positive uplift to New Zealand’s economy. General Manager of Strategic Partnerships at Centrality, Andy Higgs, said the report provided useful analysis of the significant opportunities that exist for distributed ledger and blockchain technologies. “Blockchain presents a huge opportunity, with over $11 billion USD raised through initial coin offerings (ICOs) in the first half of 2018. New Zealand has a chance to lead the way, thanks to our sense of fairness and social inclusiveness, to ensure all New Zealanders benefit from the full potential of blockchain and decentralisation.”

According to analyst firm GlobalData, Blockchain may be the ‘missing link’ that potentially transforms the electric power industry and leaves traditional business models behind. Currently, electric utilities face challenges including high operational costs, aging grids, security, regulatory compliance, and personalised customer service. Blockchain is the focus of experiments to overcome these challenges. “Blockchain is meant to be the leading enabler of decentralisation, democratisation, and liberalisation in the power industry,” says GlobalData disruptive tech analyst Archi Dasgupta.

One business is Australian-based crypto-startup Power Ledger, which develops decentralised energy trading platforms on blockchain. Its distributed P2P blockchain network allows consumers and businesses to sell their surplus solar power in their neighbourhood without a middleman. Lithuanian startup, WePower, has been working around the same in partnership with Estonia’s transmission system operator Elering. WePower uploaded 26,000 hours and 24TWh of energy production and consumption data from the smart meters of Estonia on to the Ethereum blockchain, which led to the creation of 39 billion smart energy tokens that are tradable. P2P energy networks also capitalise on blockchain’s potential by creating a decentralised marketplace, which connects owners of electric vehicles and owners of charging stations for ‘mutual benefits’. German startup Motionwerk has proposed a blockchain-based P2P energy sharing project Share & Charge. Users are encouraged to share their private electric charging stations for money.

“Although blockchain technology started scaling from its incumbent phase in the power industry, it is still largely dominated by proof-of-concept projects and small-scale production deployments,” says Dasgupta. He also estimates mass-scale commercial adoption is still three-to-five years away. “There are several challenges to be addressed including deployment costs, the requirement of power to run the setup, and more importantly, the need to develop common standards and regulations. Electric utilities are similar to banks in the way they are centralised and highly regulated, hence it is crucial to creating an ideal set up for the implementation of transformative technologies such as blockchain.