Page 23 - April 2018 Disruption Report Flip Book

ELECTRIC UTILITY SECTOR
JAANPURAIRLY20210818
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“Ugly customer fights: With solar and storage, utilities are staring at
a death spiral where their cost of operations will only go up, but their customer base is shrinking fast. By some estimates, energy demand in the US will shrink by 2-3% over the next decade but the cost to maintain the grid will go up by 2X, which is clearly not sustainable. Most utilities have warmed up to this problem by fighting any plan that allows solar and/or storage to flourish, often with end customers. This has eroded the historic trust in them.
Losing access to customers: In addition to losing trust of customers, utilities are losing access to consumer data. For example, this blockchain- enabled microgrid in Brooklyn, LO3 allows allows power to be exchanged between members of the microgrid without a centralized authority or expensive infrastructure to manage flows. System participants can control their energy-use preferences with a mobile app or smart-home system; their blockchain meters will purchase energy from solar owners based on preset cost preferences. This removes the utility from the picture, which is a body blow to their ability to understand their customer preferences.
Real-time solutions: Blockchain enabled operations are in real-time, which help solve a critical problem for utilities–balancing the grid in true real-time at much lower costs. This obviates the need to have a complex market structure and inefficient estimations. Blockchain can help figure out the precise power demand at any instant and meet it through a backend algo [e.g., a self-hosted personal Virtual Private Network (VPN) server designed for ease of deployment and security].
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“Utilities will have to dismantle a large proportion of their inefficiencies to manage real time operations to stay competitive at a speed that they are not comfortable with,” concluded Ranjan..”(Economic Times of India, Manya Ranjan, 04/017/18; The Future of Electricty, World Economic Forum, March 2017)
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