Towards more decentralised and consumer-centric electricity markets

Present electricity markets are not flexible or decentralised enough to integrate massive numbers of distributed energy resources efficiently. Individual consumers and energy communities who have their own local energy resources are still required to purchase electricity from the grid under present regulations. Local energy production typically needs to be either self-consumed on-site, or sold to the grid at an unfavourable rate. This given rise to a surge of interest in more decentralised, “consumer-centric” electricity markets, and a number of research projects and startups in the area of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) energy trading via distributed ledger or blockchain technology. Several of these projects have included small-scale demonstration in local microgrids, or on private wires. However, it is not clear how these projects can be scaled up and what are the potential impacts on grid operation and planning. This talk will discuss a number of important questions in this area including: How to integrate P2P energy trading models with the existing electricity market and regulations? Can utility-owned infrastructure be used for P2P energy trading? What are the hardware, software, and communications requirements for implementing a P2P energy trading system? What is the optimal design for decentralised electricity markets