Blockchain has been a trending topic in 2017 and a possible disruptor in many industries. How will it affect energy market participants?
This is one perspective…

What is Blockchain?

In its most basic terms, it is publicly shared data that is continuously growing and updating, similar to how GoogleDocs or GoogleSheets works. The servers maintain these “blocks” of information and they are stored in real time as new transactions and data are created. This is a secure and decentralized process. The database cannot be revised or tampered with, making it a more trusted network.

Blockchain and the Energy Industry

Blockchain means automation. It means less FTEs will be needed to complete tasks across all industries that adopt it.

It provides more microgrid opportunities for neighborhoods. Can you imagine your Home Owners Association installing renewable energy and that being the power source for you and your neighbors? What will happen with Power Retailers and Generators? How will large businesses in the Power Space stay ahead of the curve?
With Blockchain, that scenario is already happening in New York.
Read more here: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/604227/blockchain-is-helping-to-build-a-new-kind-of-energy-grid/

For Energy Market Participants who are trading power, trade confirmations will be instant, streamlining the process and reducing settlement issues. It also will help with forecasting. More automation and security can help lower costs for Market Participants.

What should you do right now?

If you are using a third-party software vendor, see if blockchain technology is on their roadmap.
If you are not using a third-party vendor, it is time to realize that power trading using spreadsheets is quickly becoming a thing of the past.

“You have front-end systems trading at warp speed, and nanoseconds of competitive advantage are being extracted, and yet the back end of Wall Street hasn’t been fundamentally overhauled in decades,” Blythe Masters, CEO of Digital Asset Holdings, says in an interview at her offices in Manhattan’s Flatiron District. “Firms are dealing with greater requirements for reporting, transparency, and dissemination of data. Costs have gone up and revenues have gone down. This technology really gets to the core of all those issues.”

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