Power Ledger released a report showing that blockchain could enable neighborhoods to trade rooftop solar energy. The company conducted a trial in Fremantle, Western Australia from December 2018 throug
Power Ledger released a report showing that blockchain could enable neighborhoods to trade rooftop solar energy. The company conducted a trial in Fremantle, Western Australia from December 2018 through January 2020, involving 48 households to test whether neighbors could buy and sell excess electricity to one another instead of exporting it to the grid. The Australian Government partly funded the work, which operated as part of the RENeW Nexus Project.
The trial demonstrated technical viability. Households with solar panels could sell surplus power in near real-time to nearby residents at prices they chose. The blockchain recorded each transaction, creating a P2P electricity market.
"Power Ledger has demonstrated how peer-to-peer energy trading can incentivize the right outcomes for the grid in a more cost-effective way," said Dr Jemma Green, the report's co-author and Power Ledger's chairman.
But enthusiasm encountered steep barriers. Western Australia's tariff system rewards based on consumption, not trading value. Participants could see the merit in P2P trading but faced weak financial incentives under the current framework.
"Participants had a positive view of P2P energy trading and could see its benefits but stated that changes to the tariff structure would be required to make it attractive," the report found.
Regulators would need to act. Raising feed-in rates during daylight hours, paired with the P2P system, would remove government subsidy requirements and allow markets to function on their own, the researchers concluded. The report also proposed allowing battery-equipped homes to participate in what it calls a Virtual Power Plant, or VPP, so households could "monetize their excess solar at all times of the day, without any subsidy, and also provide services to the grid."
The team put forward five major recommendations, addressing communication and infrastructure gaps across the region.
"P2P and VPP trading is a viable alternative to curtailing the output of renewables, or needing more subsidies to encourage the consumption of excess solar during the day," Green said. "If governments around the world are serious about incorporating renewable energy into their future energy planning then it needs to be price-competitive."
The findings suggest regional areas could eventually build their own resilient, affordable electricity networks. That prospect requires policymakers to prioritize tariff reform.
