RENEWCONNECT - All about renewables & power sector

If the  Consumer-level energy trading—neighbors buying and selling rooftop‑solar kilowatt‑hours directly—has moved from concept to pilot reality in several markets (Brooklyn, NY; Australia; Singapore; and India). Blockchain adds a secure, auditable, near‑real‑time settlement layer that can scale local markets, automate smart‑contracted trades, and provide granular carbon provenance— if the metering, market design, and regulation align. [power-technology.com] , [microgridk...wledge.com] , [ieeexplore.ieee.org] In India, the building blocks are coming together: RDSS smart metering is ramping, state regulators (e.g., UPERC and DERC ) have issued peer‑to‑peer (P2P) guidelines that explicitly allow blockchain platforms, and pilots (e.g., Uttar Pradesh , Delhi) have demonstrated feasibility and consumer value. The near‑term prize is localized balancing and cheaper, greener power with traceability; the long‑term prize is a flexible distribution system where prosumers, communities...

Fully automated outage restoration—where the grid detects faults, isolates them, reconfigures feeders, and restores service without human intervention —is no longer sci‑fi. Utilities are already deploying FLISR (Fault Location, Isolation and Service Restoration) on top of ADMS/OMS platforms, integrating AMI meter signals, and augmenting restoration with autonomous inspections (e.g., drones) and microgrid islanding . Evidence from vendors and case studies shows seconds‑to‑minutes restorations, 50%+ reductions in customers interrupted and minutes lost, and marked SAIDI/SAIFI improvement. [selinc.com] , [blog.se.com] Globally, security of supply is under stress amid extreme weather and rapidly changing load and generation; operators are investing in digital grids and resilience mechanisms. Automation is a cost‑effective lever to contain outage impacts and accelerate recovery. [nbcconnecticut.com] , [aemc.gov.au] Our position: End‑to‑end automated restoration is feasible today for...

  Distributed energy resources (DER)—rooftop and community solar, behind‑the‑meter batteries, EVs as flexible load/storage, microgrids, demand response—are no longer peripheral. They are reshaping how electricity is produced, traded, and consumed, and in some jurisdictions they already supply bidirectional power flows and grid services at scale. The International Energy Agency (IEA) documents both the opportunity (lower bills, resilience, decarbonization) and the risks (unprepared grids, inadequate market design). [iea.org] , [iea.org] Thought experiment: assume DERs become the primary way we generate and balance power, with central assets reduced to bulk balancing/backstop. What would change? In short: planning shifts from “build‑and‑dispatch” to “coordinate‑and-orchestrate”; distribution grids become the system’s brain; utilities transform into platform operators and aggregators rather than monopoly suppliers; and regulation pivots from volumetric recovery to service-based ,...