Can we reimagine the way electrical power is supplied, managed and delivered?
At present the world at large is dealing with multiple challenges across various scales, geographies, and scenarios. At times it feels like we are struggling to navigate the 2020’s, battling the decisions made over the last twenty years and unsure of how we should take the next step towards the future. Unable to move past 2010's.
If I zone in on my local context currently as I sit in South Africa, we have an immense number of challenges that we need solutions to be crafted for, none more pressing than solutions which will relieve the pressure on our power grid. We are dealing with crumbling infrastructure and a deteriorating power grid that is no longer able to provide consistent and constant power. It’s a problem that has been two decades in the making, but we don’t have the luxury of two decades to fix it… we are in need of solutions here and now. The impact of this lack of power delivery extends into many areas of the local economy, our livelihoods and the longer it persists the greater the impact will be on the cost of living. The results are rather scary to think about deeply if I am honest as this has the potential to greatly widen existing divides in economic access.
It’s incredibly easy to lay blame, rather than doing the hard work and pushing yourself to think about how you might be able to contribute to viable solutions. I am a natural problem solver and my curiosity is driven by engaging with complexity, the harder the problem the more at home I feel. While I might enjoy complexity, there are definitely times when the challenges that surround us in the world get me down.
When the challenges feel like they are too big to be overcome, I often turn to some of the online communities that I have immersed myself in over the last three years. These spaces allow me to shift my perspective, to listen, and to engage with the thinking of others who are actively working on alternative ways of operating. It was during a down cycle, late in 2022 as we entered another rolling round of power cuts, which are now part of living in South Africa, that I turned to the crypto twitter community (this time the algorithm worked in my favour and I experienced one of the few moments of algorithmic serendipity in my calendar year) as I shared the question below.
So, the answer to question that is listed at the title for this piece of writing is yes. We can reimagine the way power is supplied, managed and delivered. The responses to the tweet yielded 12 crypto projects that are actively working on new models and methods in the energy provision space.
A better question to ask then is are we willing to engage with the experimentation that is happening and how might we bridge towards new operating models that are more compatible with the times in which we live?
The change is not going to happen over night and I feel that we need to change our relationship with risk capital allocation in order to allow local experiments that are working on solutions to challenges to engage the best minds possible.
- If you have any others that I should look into, please feel free to DM me or add to the thread on Twitter.
We have work to do.
Here’s a list of the projects that were mentioned in the responses:
Plurigrid expands electricity resource capacity and scientific planning for electrical resources feasible in the real world through a protocol for better games in energy markets and incentive engineering infrastructure, Type I Civilization!
Precisely what we are doing over at
@Plurigrid
-- we are guided by implementing the agency at the decentralized protocol level.
e-gens everywhere can rely on IBC and sovereign systems of record that are mutually reinforcing.
Powerledger develops software solutions for the tracking, tracing and trading of renewable energy. We believe in the democratisation of power, for a sustainable future.
Big energy companies are powerful. They owe us nothing. They watch us. They punish us for our mistakes. They ignore our values. They have more money, more people, more connections. Technology is our weapon. Big energy can be beaten. We are underdogs. We keep learning. We innovate. We identify opportunities. We focus. We execute. We are Tesseract.
A marketplace to accelerate the energy transition, sending capital where it’s needed most.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll take a look at each of the projects.
- Spark Eco - building a market place for renewable energy certificates (RECs) and solar energy projects.
Spark democratizes renewable energy production by financing small project developers. We do this via a Web3-enabled marketplace for people to invest in real-world solar projects and directly access Renewable Energy Certificates. Electricity is an essential public good that drives economic growth, improves living standards, and helps to alleviate poverty. We are creating a new model for how communities can access clean energy.
- IOEN - a community driven network to bring clean energy to the globe
The Internet of Energy Network (IOEN) protocol is a community and technology that includes distributed accounting, transactions and applications for the clean energy transition. A software that integrates with any energy device or user and connects them via a unique agent based architecture invented by our partner platform Holochain
- Redgrid - empowering the community energy revolution
Redgrid provide software tools and business services to empower the Community Renewable Energy movement. Our mission is to keep value local and connect communities across Australia with value from their distributed energy assets.
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VillageGrid - A DAO focused on creating digital solutions for remote villages
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A case study of the Brooklyn Microgrid
Brooklyn Microgrid (BMG)[1] is a pilot project based-on Blockchain technology. In this blockchain-based project, citizens can buy and sell locally produced solar PV power from one another. The project started in early 2015, and in April 2016 the first community activity took place when three residents of President Street in Park Slope participated in the first ever peer-to-peer (P2P) energy transactions. Now neighbours can go to an app and say how much they are willing to spend on solar panels and they can find other neighbours who are producing energy.
- Swtchenergy - End-to-end electric vehicle (EV) charging & energy management solutions
SWTCH is pioneering EV charging solutions for multi-tenant properties across North America. We help building owners and operators deploy EV charging that optimizes energy usage and revenue at scale using existing grid infrastructure.
- PowerPlay - A free way to earn crypto by using more renewable energy for a bill discount in Australia.
