{"id":15938,"date":"2017-11-07T12:53:44","date_gmt":"2017-11-07T02:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=15938"},"modified":"2024-08-06T10:59:41","modified_gmt":"2024-08-06T01:29:41","slug":"solar-blockchain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-blockchain\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar Blockchain: A Revolutionary New Method Of Charging Fees"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_16503\" style=\"width: 1610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16503\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16503\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/solar-blockchain.jpg\" alt=\"solar blockchain\" width=\"1600\" height=\"914\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-16503\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Is solar blockchain going to revolutionise the way we buy energy? Or is it a load of overhyped bollocks?<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Blockchain\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Blockchain<\/a> is a revolutionary new technology with the revolutionary ability to revolutionize our lives.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>It was presented to the world in a revolutionary 2008 <a href=\"https:\/\/bitcoin.org\/bitcoin.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">paper<\/a> by <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Satoshi_Nakamoto\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Satoshi Nakamoto<\/a><sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-blockchain\/#en-15938-1' id='enref-15938-1' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(15938)'>1<\/a><\/sup>:<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_16518\" style=\"width: 734px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16518\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16518\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/bitcoinpaperstart.jpg\" alt=\"Bitcoin Paper\" width=\"724\" height=\"311\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-16518\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nothing particularly complex here. I could have come up with it myself given a million years or so.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In the 9 years since it was unleashed upon the world, blockchain technology has changed our lives by giving us:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bitcoin &#8211; the world&#8217;s first cryptocurrency<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-blockchain\/#en-15938-2' id='enref-15938-2' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(15938)'>2<\/a><\/sup>!<\/li>\n<li>Bitcash &#8211; Son of bitcoin!<\/li>\n<li>Etherium &#8211; a cryptocurrency like bitcoin!<\/li>\n<li>Litecoin, Zcoin, Dash (not the <a href=\"http:\/\/68.media.tumblr.com\/282b51bb1a7694b3553db279ca5bf0de\/tumblr_nz58bj80cn1qa8gxqo1_500.gif\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">My Little Pony<\/a> version), Ripple, Monero, Bytecoin, MonaCoin, Dogecoin, Siacoin, Syscoin, Digibyte, Bitdeal, Groestlcoin, NAV Coin, FairCoin, SmartCash, NoLimitCoin, AirSwap, I\/O Coin, Dentacoin, ReddCoin, PotCoin, Coin<a href=\"https:\/\/i.pinimg.com\/originals\/d7\/a5\/12\/d7a512872e6bf21da5e6ecd183f495eb.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Dash<\/a>, Skycoin, VeriCoin, BlackCoin, Chronobank, SIBCoin, PayPie, ToaCoin, GridCoin, E-coin, Energycoin, B3Coin, DubaiCoin, TransferCoin, WhiteCoin, Clams, DimeCoin, Solarcoin, KickCoin, BitBean, HempCoin, SexCoin, DopeCoin, DeepOnion, CryptoPing, SkinCoin, KekCoin, InsaneCoin, HoboNickels, TrumpCoin, FedoraCoin, Trollcoin, Cryptonite, SwagBucks, TittieCoin, GoldPieces, BitCoal, FuzzBalls&#8230; and many more.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Actually, now that I think about it, every application so far seems to be a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin.\u00a0 And while I have to admit that Bitcoin is handy for buying drugs or guns<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-blockchain\/#en-15938-3' id='enref-15938-3' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(15938)'>3<\/a><\/sup> or getting to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OhPyz_-gUfs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Alderaan<\/a> without <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LvswNDAAZCU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Imperial entanglements<\/a>, for most of us blockchain has had no real effect on our lives at all.<\/p>\n<p>This is not to say that blockchains aren&#8217;t useful and have no practical applications beyond creating an open contest for the world&#8217;s stupidest sounding PayPal substitute.\u00a0 They could have many applications as a decentralized record of transactions without the need for a central authority to keep a central record and make sure no one is cheating and ripping people off.\u00a0 Nothing <a href=\"https:\/\/venturebeat.com\/2017\/11\/01\/the-esports-memorabilia-scene-is-big-and-blockchain-may-make-it-huge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">specific<\/a> comes to mind at the moment, but people are working on it right now.\u00a0 Top people.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-16469\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/1280x720-fZw.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" \/><\/p>\n<p>But one area I am sure blockchain technology won&#8217;t be useful is trading electricity from rooftop solar over the grid.\u00a0 This is because I can&#8217;t see any way it will result in savings in the cost of using the grid to move solar electricity from a household producing a surplus to nearby homes and businesses consuming electricity.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of whether or not you think current solar feed-in tariffs are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/a-fair-solar-feed-in-tariff-for-australia-is-around-22-cents\/\">fair<\/a>, if there are no savings to be had from using blockchains there will be no extra money available for solar households.\u00a0 Also, because blockchains cost money to run, if they are used the fees they require will be an additional expense.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t see opportunities for savings because, while blockchain may have many interesting applications for decentralized record keeping, Australian grids:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Are very definitely centralized.<\/li>\n<li>Already have a well established method of recording transactions which isn&#8217;t about to go away anytime soon.<\/li>\n<li>Are not prone to the sort of trust problems that blockchains can solve.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And the most important factor I can see is:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>No special breaks will be given to those using blockchain technology.\u00a0 They will be charged the same to use the grid as everyone else.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As installing electricity meters that can generate blockchains is probably the only sensible way to go about using the technology in the long term to keep track of electricity transactions, there will also be a considerable set up cost.<\/p>\n<h2>What The Hell Is A Blockchain?<\/h2>\n<p>A blockchain is a continuously updated electronic record of transactions that requires no central authority to maintain its accuracy.\u00a0 This ability to be an honest record can help to prevent fraud.\u00a0 To be clear, it&#8217;s not a magical cure for fraud, but will prevent the sort that requires fiddling with or faking records.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to learn the details of how they work, you can read the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Blockchain\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wikipedia article<\/a>, watch the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=k53LUZxUF50\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TED talk<\/a><sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-blockchain\/#en-15938-4' id='enref-15938-4' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(15938)'>4<\/a><\/sup>, read the <a href=\"https:\/\/bitcoin.org\/bitcoin.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">original paper<\/a>, or simply check the internet for crazy people who don&#8217;t have a clue what they&#8217;re blathering on about<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-blockchain\/#en-15938-5' id='enref-15938-5' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(15938)'>5<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n<h2>Blockchain Can Help Prevent Fraud<\/h2>\n<p>By keeping an accurate record, blockchains can have the advantage of reducing the cost of fraud detection.\u00a0 But there is not a whole lot of fraud going on with surplus electricity from rooftop solar is concerned.\u00a0 No one&#8217;s getting rich by tampering with their electricity meter to make it look like they are exporting more solar electricity than they are.\u00a0 After all, it&#8217;s not hard for your electricity retailer to work out that your 5 kilowatt system probably isn&#8217;t producing a megawatt-hour a day.\u00a0 And when it comes to electricity distributors and retailers, if they want to rip you off they will do that legally and not by charging people for electricity they didn&#8217;t use.<\/p>\n<p>While electricity theft does occur, it generally happens by people bypassing or tampering with electricity meters and this is not something that blockchains, in of themselves, can prevent.<\/p>\n<h2>Disadvantages And Advantage Of Blockchain<\/h2>\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.chain.com\/a-letter-to-jamie-dimon-de89d417cb80\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this expert points out<\/a>, blockchains have a number of disadvantages compared to the centralized record keeping that is currently used for electricity.\u00a0 This is because blockchains are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Slower<\/li>\n<li>More expensive<\/li>\n<li>Less scalable<\/li>\n<li>Less user friendly<\/li>\n<li>Impossible to manage effectively due to their decentralized nature<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As you can see, blockchains aren&#8217;t exactly selling themselves as effective tools for energy trading.\u00a0 Worse, these problems are part of the nature of the beast and can&#8217;t really be solved with improved programming or technology and so are likely to always exist.<\/p>\n<p>But the one area blockchain excels in is that it can&#8217;t be controlled by outside forces such as governments, the CIA, the KGB, or the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tV5wmDhzgY8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">crab people<\/a> who rule the world from the center of the earth.\u00a0 So if you don&#8217;t want Malcolm Turnbull <a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com.au\/2017\/07\/14\/turnbull-vs-maths-how-do-you-snoop-on-encryption-without-ruining-it-for-everyone_a_23029275\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reading your love letters<\/a>, you might find using a blockchain messaging service is worth the hassle.\u00a0 But this really isn&#8217;t an issue when it comes to household electricity.\u00a0 My love life is extremely exciting<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-blockchain\/#en-15938-6' id='enref-15938-6' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(15938)'>6<\/a><\/sup> so I can understand Malcolm wanting to read about it, but my electricity bills are really boring.<\/p>\n<h2>Blockchain Makes No Difference To How The Grid Operates<\/h2>\n<p>There are <a href=\"http:\/\/reneweconomy.com.au\/blockchain-energy-trader-power-ledger-raises-17m-coin-offering-81675\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">companies<\/a> that claim blockchain technology can allow peer-to-peer energy trading which lets households trade solar electricity with each other.\u00a0 While peer-to-peer trading doesn&#8217;t require blockchain technology it seems fashionable at the moment to try to combine these two things into one product.\u00a0 Unfortunately, while companies may claim electricity has been traded with a specific person, it&#8217;s not something that actually happens in reality.<\/p>\n<p>In the real world, surplus electricity from rooftop solar is sent into the local grid and consumed by the loads closest to the household exporting it.\u00a0 There is no control over where it goes.\u00a0 If anyone tells you they can use blockchain or anything else to enable you to sell electricity to your family and friends they are lying and taking advantage of your natural desire to help out the people you love.\u00a0 The only way that is going to happen is if these people happen to live next door to you and are consuming grid electricity while you&#8217;re exporting it.<\/p>\n<p>What electricity retailers can do is claim a payment normally from the local electricity distributor for your surplus solar electricity and simply tell you they sold it to your friends and family as a con job.\u00a0 To me it seems like this is the sort of thing the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.accc.gov.au\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Australian Competition and Consumer Commission<\/a> (ACCC) might be interested in.\u00a0 One <a href=\"https:\/\/www.accc.gov.au\/consumers\/consumer-rights-guarantees\/consumer-guarantees\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">consumer guarantee<\/a> that protects us is:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Products must match descriptions made by the salesperson, on packaging and labels, and in promotions or advertising.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If they tell you your solar electricity has been sent to your niece&#8217;s flat for her to use when no such thing has happened then, as far as I can see, their description is not matching the product.<\/p>\n<h2>How Blockchains May Be Used With Household Electricity<\/h2>\n<p>Because of its disadvantages, blockchains won&#8217;t allow the grid to operate more efficiently and save money when it comes to distributing solar surplus electricity from households.\u00a0 Anyone trying it as a gimmick, which is what it will be, will just be adding the additional cost of running the blockchain on top of existing costs.\u00a0 With no scope for savings there is no way for households to use it to get a better deal for their solar electricity.<\/p>\n<p>So if it seems like some blockchain company is offering more for your solar electricity than what you can get as a feed-in tariff, be very careful, because I&#8217;m certain they will be making up for it in fees and charges.\u00a0 If I am wrong about this, it would be wonderful, as everyone with rooftop solar would be better off, but I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;m wrong.<\/p>\n<p>But perhaps there are ways blockchain technology could be of benefit in some situations.\u00a0 For example, microgrids might find it useful.\u00a0 As far as I can tell, a centralized system would be more efficient, but maybe it&#8217;s a microgrid full of paranoid people who don&#8217;t trust each other and so value the tamper proof method of record keeping blockchains provide.\u00a0 It&#8217;s possible this feature will be useful in countries that have serious corruption problems.<\/p>\n<p>There may be other applications where blockchain technology could be useful when it comes to selling surplus electricity from rooftop solar.\u00a0 I can&#8217;t think of any, but I&#8217;m not an expert and there are almost certainly things I&#8217;ve overlooked.<\/p>\n<p>If you can think of situations where blockchain could help solar households, please leave a detailed comment.\u00a0 I promise not to trade it with my family and friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Blockchain is a revolutionary new technology with the revolutionary ability to revolutionize our lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":16503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[509],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solar-innovations","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Solar Blockchain: Saviour of solar energy or overhyped BS?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Some companies are claiming that blockchain allows you &#039;sell electricity to your neighbours&#039; instead of to the grid. Really?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-blockchain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Solar Blockchain: A Revolutionary New Method Of Charging Fees\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some companies are claiming that blockchain allows you &#039;sell electricity to your neighbours&#039; instead of to the grid. Really?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-blockchain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SolarQuotes Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-11-07T02:23:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-06T01:29:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/solar-blockchain.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"914\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ronald Brakels\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@BrakelsRonald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@solar_quotes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-blockchain\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-blockchain\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ronald Brakels\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0ce1779b3f5cb67cb4f146732af2fc7\"},\"headline\":\"Solar Blockchain: A Revolutionary New Method Of Charging Fees\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-07T02:23:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-08-06T01:29:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-blockchain\/\"},\"wordCount\":1754,\"commentCount\":19,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-blockchain\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/solar-blockchain.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Solar Innovations\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-blockchain\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-blockchain\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-blockchain\/\",\"name\":\"Solar Blockchain: Saviour of solar energy or overhyped BS?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-blockchain\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-blockchain\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/solar-blockchain.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-07T02:23:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-08-06T01:29:41+00:00\",\"description\":\"Some companies are claiming that blockchain allows you 'sell electricity to your neighbours' instead of to the grid. 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