P2P/VPP Energy Trading is a GREAT Energy Distribution & Payment system currently being tested by several Private & Community Solar Generators and Distribution companies in Australia, America & Japan in City's, Town's, as well as Commercial & Rural installations.

Australian company Power Ledger is a world leader in this disruptive type of Energy distribution, it appears all about data logging & proven Secure Bitchain type payment system.

From what we read P2P/VPP Energy Trading allows the sale of private and community owned energy generators & energy storage owners to sell there energy directly to consumers, and the people that own/invest in the energy generation sell there energy at a rate that is privately agreed upon between the Generator & Consumer, this Cuts out the middle man, being the "Energy Retailer" providing cheaper & farer energy distribution too consumers.

Current status of Residential & Commercial P2P/VPP Energy Trading:

Several trials in the Residential & Commercial energy market have been successful, partially because there is no need for funding.

On the one hand, regulated network tariffs mean there are little benefits to local energy trading.

On the other hand, there were low levels of installed & controllable distributed energy resources, which makes it hard for solution providers to provide value to their customers, read more on how Power Ledger is leading the way in Australia.

P2P/VPP Energy Trading is currently supported by Block-chain Technology.

Block-chain is a decentralised ledger technology. When applied to the energy sector, it enable people to trade energy among themselves. Where people can generate their own energy from Renewable Energy Sources (RES's) in dwellings, offices and factories, solar farms, and share it with each other locally.

Tokenising renewable energy allows Solar, Wind and Hydro energy producers to seamlessly connect with investors, who are willing to pay upfront for the right to consume renewable energy.

As P2P/VPP energy trading involves a large number of transactions between Traders and Consumers, it is technology that allows for low-cost authentication, validation and settlement while protecting privacy. One of the most promising technologies to enable this is 'blockchain', a distributed ledger technology. Blockchain is mostly known as the technology supporting distributed trading such as Bitcoin, and has strong support in the banking sector.

With blockchain, transactions are stored in virtual blocks, which are connected together in a chain. A complete history of all transactions that have ever occurred within a particular network is retained. Blockchain technology can offer a cryptographically secure, distributed ledger that can track where electricity was generated, where it can travel to and who used it.

There is no question about where a kWh came from and how it was produced. The technology is said to be transparent and secure, and does not require a central entity to store and manage shared data and business process.

Blockchain will also make it easier for new and smaller players to be involved, right down to the individual solar household.

There are online Collage courses to train people wanting to get involved it several facets of the Block-chain revolution, we totally believe Block-Chain has the potential to be/do what the internet did 20 years ago!

Blockchain-based P2P/VPP Trials

In September 2019 Block-chain technology allow households and businesses using Power Ledger platform to trade or share locally generated electricity with each other was trialled in the Bush at Wongan Hills, WA, this is the first regional application of the technology where commercial buildings will trade excess solar between each other.

Most other forms of energy trading are heading down the Virtual Power Plant (VPP) pathway like AGL's VPP in South Australia or Origin's VPP in Victoria. However, like the blockchain trials, these solutions are not widespread and involve mostly the residential sector.

Advantages of P2P/VPP Trading;

Energy does not have to be transmitted from distant power plants, reducing electricity transmission costs.
Energy generation can be based on renewable clean energy production & storage.
Energy can be bought from a known source, which allows you to claim energy from a specific project.
Energy costs can be lower for the buyer.
No middle man – generators & customers can make direct deals on their own terms.
The financial return to generators will be better than any current feed-in rate.
There is choice and transparency in dealing with other consumers.
Block-chain software is used for payments is very secure.
Everyone saves money.

Barriers to P2P/VPP trading

Several barriers exist to P2P/VPP trading at present, and it is not known at what time these will be overcome, so that consumers can begin to participate and benefit from renewable energy.

Some of the main barriers include;

Not yet fully Commercialised.
Immature market for Solutions.
Multiple stakeholders that need to be convinced of the business case. (e.g. retailers)
Regulatory barriers.

We still see one of the key Regulatory road blocks to a fairer nation wide energy supply, is the "Supply charge to the Property", commonly $30 Month ($90 quarter) for all Residential consumers, and $60 month for 3 phase supply.

BitCoin: (Cryptocurrency Money)

While Bitcoin's future is still highly speculative, there is a need to differentiate between Bitcoin and Blockchain.

Blockchain is the software technology that underpins Bitcoin. Blockchain is essentially a distributed database of records or public ledger of all transactions that have been executed and only shared among participating parties, the banking institutes use Bitchain as it is a very secure technology, there is also a New Crypto Currency Incept Coin (ICC) that is set to become the standard Payment system.

Beyond all the Froth & Bubble of the emerging P2P/VPP energy trading technology, with the dramatic drop in cost for Solar modules & Energy (battery) storage, DART solar trackers are still the BEST Racking type, that harvest more solar energy than any other Solar Racking type!

EG: A small Residential DART-4 unit fitted with 4x 500W solar panels will harvest up to 20kWh/p day, and a DART-8 unit will harvest up to 40kWh/p per day, DART's can Cut the Energy Retailers out of the picture totally! If you are already Grid connected, and install Energy storage (batteries), we do NOT recommend going Off-grid, Simply because DART units harvest way more energy than any other type of Solar Racking, as when your batteries are fully charged, additional Energy that is not being consumed would be wasted if not being fed into the state grid for a Rebate. The correct size Energy storage simply eliminates consumers paying for energy between Sunset to Sunrise.

If our politicians & bureaucratic regulators waste more time talking about "Energy Security" than promoting the uptake of P2P/VPP energy trading, only those with the vision that invest in a "independent Micro Power Grid" will leave the majority of the population behind in the coming years!

Commercial Energy Trading from Free Waste Energy Sources:

FYI: A large commercial 10MW 1414° TESS (Thermal Energy Storage System), the cost of one Module is said to Cost 1/10th the Cost of Any 10MWh Battery Storage Technology currently available we know of.

A TESS unit can sell the Stored energy on Demand or at Peak demand times, for at a better return on investment per kWh of generated/exported energy, and if Government bureaucrats are smart, they would be planing to incorporate TESS unit at every suitable Sewerage Treatment Plant &/or Power Stations, especially for when there is Talk of Stopping Customers Sending there excess Energy into the State Grid for a FIT when an abundance of Mid-day Solar Energy causes a oversupply power spike, supposedly!

Currently the Australian energy sector is implementing ways to adjusts to the current National energy transformations stemming from Renewable energy sources, it is a logical development in the new rising economy, which will see smart cards being used to pay for energy in places like Housing/Accommodation, like AirBnB, Motorhome/Caravan parks, Car charging stations, and all sorts of Residential & Commercial outlets, with Person to Person transactions, rather than the current large energy Retailers price gouging consumers, as things are currently with the deceptive named energy Retailers.