By The co-creator of Ethereum, Joseph Lubin, is operating Grid+, a blockchain start-up operated by ConsenSys, which is the largest blockchain software company in the world. ConsenSys is now successfully supplying electricity to its clients throughout Texas, by using the Ethereum computing platform and operating system.
Grid+ is able to distribute renewable electricity, such as wind and solar energy to consumers throughout the United States, by using the Ethereum mainnet. The start-up is using a blockchain solution and a unique hardware gateway system, to enable people to purchase electricity.
Lubin stated that [they have made a] “ground-breaking milestone. The tireless Grid+ team has begun supplying power to their first four customers.”
ConsenSys identified opportunities to form Grid+ – a way to decentralize energy distributors
Grid+ is able to utilize its hardware and software stack to facilitate the processing of payments for electricity in real time. A function called Smart Agents, allows consumers to programmatically buy and sell electricity.
It is possible to process multiple payments within a short period of time. This assists consumers to purchase the exact amount of energy that they expect to use, without acquiring an excess supply of energy.
Grid operators are still experiencing challenges to fully maximize their supply with renewable energy sources. In 2017, Chilean grid operators had no efficient way of storing and distributing energy throughout the country. This was problematic when the local solar power plants over produced solar energy, as it meant that they had to give its supply of electricity away, for no compensation.
In the United States, 20 percent of the market share is secured by renewable sources of energy, which includes wind and solar power. Over the past few years, especially in the deregulated market of renewable electricity, the demand for trusted distributors of energy has increased significantly.
ConsenSys noticed that they could target the deregulated market of renewable energy, by developing a system that utilizes the Raiden Network, a scaling solution on Ethereum. This enables decentralized applications (dApps) and their users to process micropayments on the Ethereum network, with minimal fees incurred.
The Grid+ and ConsenSys team reported that “through this experience, ConsenSys identified the opportunity to form Grid+, which will build natively Ethereum-based utilities in deregulated markets. Grid+ will demonstrate production ready blockchain-based energy solutions at scale in competitive commercial environments in order to enable the transactive grid of the future and prove the advantages of Ethereum over incumbent technologies”.
dApps to reduce the burden on the Ethereum mainnet
The integration of Raiden Network and a second-layer scaling solution has the potential to become instrumental in enabling second-layer scaling for mainstream users at a large-scale. Presently, the Ethereum network is able to process around 12 transactions per second on its mainnet. However, for networks like Grid+ that primarily relies on the Internet of Things (IoT) devices, at least thousands of transactions per second is required.
There has been an increase in the number of dApps that utilise platforms such as 0x and Raiden. The idea is that using platforms such as 0x and Raiden will reduce the burden on the Ethereum mainnet, which will maximize transaction capacity. This is hugely beneficial for Ethereum, despite the possibility of it scaling to tens of thousands of transactions per second in the years to come.
How do you think dApps should be maximizing transaction capacity? Do you know of any other electricity suppliers using the Ethereum platform? Give us your thoughts in the comments below.
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