This interview is part of our new Blockchain In Energy series, where we interview the world's leading thought leaders on the front lines of the intersections between blockchain and energy.

In this interview we speak with Gregor Novak, CEO of SunContract, to understand how his company is using blockchain to transform the energy business, and what the future of the industry holds.

1. What’s the story behind SunContract? Why and how did you begin?

GN: The global electricity market is estimated to be worth about $2 trillion dollars and is largely monopolized by a few corporations. These major players in the sector control the dynamics of the market with an emphasis on higher energy production levels in order to ensure maximum profits. As a result, the contribution of consumers and end-users in this model is restricted to subscription for energy services.

But in the modern world where consumer behaviour is gravitating towards greater inclusion in the market, we have witnessed nearly every industry undergo changes to adapt to this evolution, except one industry – the energy sector. The current model we have in energy has a number of shortcomings since the modern electricity consumer wants to have a greater say in the generation as well as the distribution of electricity.

The story behind SunContract is that we simply wanted to do things differently in the energy sector. We wanted to meet the demands of our evolved energy consumer. We wanted to give them autonomy over their energy consumption, production choices. We wanted to provide transparency which is currently lacking for most energy customers. We wanted to give them the opportunity to opt out of a contract if they could find a better priced electricity offer. We wanted to give a myriad of possibilities and opportunities that made them better off and allowed them to be the decision makers. We wanted to take a bottom-up approach, as opposed to the top-down approach majority of energy monopolies have been using.

2. Please describe your use case and how SunContract uses blockchain:

GN: Peer-to-peer energy trading is a concept whose foundation lies in the idea of a peer-to-peer economy. In short, a sharing economy where the partakers mutually have a say in the peer-to-peer transactions that they conduct. As solar and battery storage systems increase, the concept of a P2P energy trading system is becoming more and more popular. This system allows consumers to take advantage of other energy customers who produce more energy than they need.

SunContract simply leverages the transparent, immutable nature of blockchain technology, to optimize power distribution. Before, the producer would sell his energy at a less than optimal price to a middleman company who would then make a profit by selling this energy to a much higher price to the end consumer.

With SunContract, the producer and consumer directly agree on the price. The result of the agreement is a lower price for the consumer and also a higher price for the producer than if he sold it to a middleman company. This way the consumer incurs electricity cost savings while the producer becomes more profitable and can break even much faster on the costs of his production assets. Moreover, consumers can terminate contracts if they receive better offers on the SunContract marketplace. This allows for the creation of competitive, fair prices for both producers and consumers. Through P2P energy trading, energy customers can now influence the prices of their energy.

So in a nutshell, P2P allows energy customers to:

Trade their energy production to friends and family for free or at a discount. Choose to buy solar energy from a neighbour, or support a local wind or solar farm. Choose to source as much energy as possible from distributed rooftop solar systems or home battery banks, or even neighbours.

3. Could you share a specific customer/user that benefits from what you offer? What has your service done for them?

GN: As of now, there are 3 main benefits our users are experiencing:

Their electricity prices are typically lower than the prices offered by big energy companies. Our pioneers (customers who signed up during the launch of the SunContract project) receive even lower prices than the current enrolling customers.

Our producers have the ability to decide how to dispose of their surpluses. Rather than dumping power back on the grid, they can now share their surpluses with family, sell it to neighbours, or donate it to charities of their choice

Consumers on the platform too can decide where their energy comes from. On the SunContract platform, there is a section where users can choose their energy source. And the options are plenty, ranging from solar, wind, hydro, biogas and cogeneration.

We have an energy customer on the platform: Toni Cepon. When asked what are the benefits he is receiving by being on the platform, lower energy prices were at the top of his list. He also mentions that he enjoys the ability to choose exactly where his electricity comes from – since he is environmentally conscious. Toni also says that he really likes that with P2P energy trading, he does not have to commit to an energy provider for 1-2 years. He can terminate a contract if there are more friendly prices to take advantage of on the platform.

4. What other blockchain energy use cases are you excited about?

GN: I am particularly interested to see the influence of blockchain on the banking and political sectors. Nobody is sure about the impact blockchain will have on banking over the next few years. But right now, it offers three main advantages over conventional banking which is why fin-tech is confident about its future: quicker transactions, transparency and accessibility as well as reduced transaction costs.

In politics, blockchain can be used to prevent anyone from meddling with citizens’ democratic rights and responsibilities. Rigged voting and long queues could become a thing of the past. This would result in less voting irregularities as well as increased voter engagement.

5. Where will SunContract be in five years?

GN: We anticipate that we will be in additional markets, and in additional continents, offering more services than P2P energy trading ☺