As this project is relatively new and its investors are based right across the globe I have decided to write a quick summary on Power Ledger and why in my opinion it is one of the most Disruptive blockchain technologies on the market by combining, microgrids, solar power and blockchain technology

WHAT IS A MICROGRID

A Microgrid is a group of electricity consumers with a shared independent source of electricity supply that is still able to utilise the main central grid when and if required.

Many electricity utilities around the world such as AEP (American Electric Power) reluctantly admit that microgrids are an inevitable technology advance as there are several benefits including the following;

COMPATABILITY: Microgrids are 100% compatible with existing centralized grids serving as a functional layer that builds on existing systems as an extra layer rather than competing against it.

FLEXIBILITY: Due to their systematic nature, Microgrids follow a rapid expansion and growth pattern whether it is to add an additional participant to an existing microgrid or set up a completely new microgrid. They are also able to be utilized globally by anyone both commercially or residentially.

EFFICIENCY: Due to the self-reliant nature of microgrids, this makes them a lot more efficient both economically and environmentally.

WHY SOLAR POWER AND HOW BIG IS THE SOLAR POWER INDUSTRY

Well the better question may be why not use solar power! Solar power is a rapidly growing industry and almost everyone is in agreement that it will get big… very big!

Statista.com research estimates that the solar power industry will be valued at $160 Billion USD by 2023 and further to this Sunpower (one of the largest manufacturers of solar panels) calculates the industry being worth a whopping $5 Trillion dollars within 20 years!

There are several exciting reasons why solar power is becoming a leader in the energy industry;

PRICE: The cost for manufacturing solar panels has reduced 10 fold while at the same time the performance of capturing solar energy has significantly improved, making solar power a very cheap option.

HIGH DEMAND: Solar power is in high demand around the globe as it is obviously the most abundant form of energy supply (the sun isn’t going to burn out anytime soon!) In fact the demand for solar power in the USA grew 41% making it the number one highest growing energy option.

BENEFITS: Due to many governments being conscious of reducing their global footprint, there is often tax incentives for companies and even residential properties installing solar panels

WHAT PROBLEM DOES POWER LEDGER SOLVE:

Both Microgrids and solar power are existing technologies that have been around for quite a while. Even microgrids utilising solar power are already in existence.

However there is a MAJOR issue at the moment with these systems which no-one has been to find a solution for until now.

Currently any excess electricity captured by someone’s property is virtually wasted, as there is no option to sell it back to the main centralized grid or the price that you will get for selling this excess electricity is way under market value.

At the same time Microgrids currently have no way to accurately measure which properties within the microgrid created the excess electricity and to whose property that excess electricity went to. Think of these microgrids currently working like a massive pool of electricity where it just is created and flows autonomously to whoever requires it the most.

This is not a practical option for existing microgrids. For example, Mr Jones who has 10 solar panels and is on an existing microgrid with 5 other properties that only had 2 solar panels each. Mr Jones was sure that he was creating excess electricity through his solar panels but had no way to know how much and furthermore it would not be accurately possible to determine how much of each of the other 5 properties had consumed Mr Jones’s excess electricity.

Up step Power Ledger — through the technological advancements in solar battery storage combined with Power Ledgers unique Microgrid smart meters and the use of blockchain technology to create a decentralized ledger, it is now 100% absolutely possible to know how much excess electricity each property on a microgrid is creating and to whom that electricity is being deployed to. Hence the revolution of turning microgrids into a true marketable viability by being able to accurately buy and sell electricity to your neighbours!!

This will allow people to gradually become less and less reliant on the main central grids and instead have their own microgrid market place for buying and selling electricity.

Successful trials demonstrating the accuracy of this technology have already been completed in Australia and New Zealand and is currently being trialled by the Power Ledger team on a larger scale in India.

The electricity industry has been well and truly disrupted!!!