The Role of Technology in the Renewable Energy Sector

The battle against global warming is becoming a lucrative business as solar and wind energy become cheaper than fossil fuels. By late 2016, 47 developing countries had updated their energy plans by raising their reusable energy consumption targets to 100 percent. There is a great scope for technology to contribute to this movement. New batteries or generators capable of storing energy surplus, blockchain technology, and intelligent meters (the Internet of Things, or IoT) connected to intelligent grids and distribution networks are some of the offerings that technology serves or can serve to the renewable energy sector.

While the use of intelligent meters (IoT) as nodes for energy consumers and producers makes it possible to track consumption and payments, smart contracts can initiate the transfer of funds between accounts based on usage data received from each of these meters, ensuring accuracy. Documenting the transactions and creating a reliable network of energy tracking, Blockchain technology is intertwined with all of this.

Institutions such as the American LO3 TransActive Grid and the Australian Power Ledger understand the business potential these technologies may represent and present solutions for the commercialization of surplus energy produced by any consumer, whether a residence, a condominium, a factory or a farm. Making the process simpler and safer, Blockchain combines a tracked energy transaction with a financial transaction. TenneT, a leading electricity transmission system operator joined forces with Sonnen, in Germany, and Vandebron, in the Netherlands, to explore a permissioned blockchain network using Hyperledger Fabric to integrate flexible capacity supplied by electric cars and household batteries into the electrical grid. Vandebron, a 100 percent renewable energy supplier in the Netherlands will make their electric car batteries capacity available to TenneT to balance its grid, without compromising the availability of their car batteries.

The combination of cognitive computing and intelligent grids will enable consumers and energy distributors to work in partnership, predicting peak consumption and natural phenomena, and locating surplus energy without demand, thus avoiding blackouts and other incidents in the future. Breaking the status quo of the energy industry, technology and innovation are making producers and distributors, as well as consumers, review their role in the chain. The change in behavior will eventually make the renewable energy more sustainable.