You Don’t Need An Energy Company When You Can Buy Power From Your Friends

Utility companies are getting disrupted as people sell each other their energy, without the middleman

While communication networks have evolved a lot over the last century, the electricity grid has hardly changed at all. The system still uses the same basic technology and has the same general form: big power plants delivering electrons over long transmission and distribution lines. Thomas Edison built America’s first power plant in New York in 1882. And as power industry folk like to say, “he would probably still recognize the grid today.”

Not for much longer. With thousands of people now installing solar panels and selling power back to utilities, the grid is changing from a one-way, top-down network to being two-ways and bottom-up. In the future, the transformation is likely to progress even further, with more of us participating, and some of us even collaborating in “peer-to-peer” relationships. The future grid could be like an “energy Internet” where the traditional hierarchies are overturned. Instead of a hub-and-spoke system of utilities to consumers, power and associated services will be transacted between individuals.

Not for much longer. With thousands of people now installing solar panels and selling power back to utilities, the grid is changing from a one-way, top-down network to being two-ways and bottom-up. In the future, the transformation is likely to progress even further, with more of us participating, and some of us even collaborating in “peer-to-peer” relationships. The future grid could be like an “energy Internet” where the traditional hierarchies are overturned. Instead of a hub-and-spoke system of utilities to consumers, power and associated services will be transacted between individuals.

Here are some of the ways that could happen:

BUYING POWER ON AN ENERGY AIRBNB

Today, when people sell solar power to the grid, they have to accept the price utilities are willing to offer. That may not be a great deal because utilities have little incentive to encourage people to sell power, because each kilowatt generated at home is one more they can’t sell themselves. An open market for rooftop energy might benefit producers and allow people who don’t have their own solar panels to share in some of the advantages.

Read more: You Don’t Need An Energy Company When You Can Buy Power From Your Friends