OF THE FIRST GLOBAL SUMMIT ON BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY IN THE ENERGY SECTOR (held on 14 15 February 2017 in Vienna, Austria)
OF THE FIRST GLOBAL SUMMIT ON BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY IN THE ENERGY SECTOR EventHorizon 2017 was the first global summit on blockchain technology in the energy sector. Initiated by Grid Singularity, it assembled experts, government officials, decision makers, start-ups and established market players to discuss how blockchain and other decentralized transaction technologies may affect the way our energy system is organized. The summit featured several panel discussions with renowned experts and moderators. In advance of the summit, participants and moderators were invited to submit suggestions for questions that could be used for a survey among participants during EventHorizon 2017. The initiators of this exercise were Christoph Burger and Dr. Jens Weinmann of ESMT Berlin and Grid Singularity founders Ewald Hesse and Dr. Ana Trbovich. The survey, including 14 select questions, was conducted before and after each panel discussion, starting with the utility panel, the regulatory panel, the investor panel, and finally the security panel. As the summit s audience consisted of attendees with higher level of industry expertise and an intrinsic inclination to consider blockchain relevant for future energy supply, the results can be said to reflect the opinion of informed public but cannot be extrapolated to the general public. The poll results are shown on the subsequent pages of this presentation with the aim of stimulating further discussion and creative thinking.
HORIZON 2017 IN NUMBERS
1) AT WHICH STAGE ARE YOU? Stage 4 - my pilot has been successful and I am in the middle of commercial ramp up 5% Stage 1 - I have heard about blockchain, I am here to figure out the impact it can have in the energy sector 15% Stage 3 - I have selected a use case and I am in the middle of developing a pilot 31% Stage 2 - I am convinced of the impact, I am trying to figure out on which use case I need to focus my company 49% n=132
UTILITY PANEL
2) HOW SOON DO YOU THINK WE WILL SEE THE FIRST BLOCKCHAIN DRIVEN BUSINESS MODEL IN PRODUCTION? In 4 to 7 years 17% In the next year 27% In 2 to 3 years 56% n=211
3) WILL UTILITIES SURVIVE IN IN THEIR CURRENT FORMAT? Yes 30% No 70% n=215
4) HOW HIGH DO YOU ESTIMATE THE COST CUTTING POTENTIAL OF BLOCKCHAIN FOR PROCESSES IN UTILITIES? 90% potential 100% potential 1% 10% potential 60% potential 24% 5% 9% 25% 20% potential 36% 30% potential n=214
5) HOW HIGH DO YOU ESTIMATE THE ELECTRICITY MARKET SHARE OF P2P-TRADING IN 2025 IN EUROPE? <70% > 80% 6% 2% 17% < 5% < 50% 24% 51% < 20% n=218
REGULATORY PANEL
6) HOW WILL THE NEW TECHNOLOGY IMPACT OVERALL GRID COSTS? remain the same 25% more expensive 13% cheaper 62% n=196
7) SHOULD REGULATORS INSTALL A TASK FORCE TO LEARN THE IMPACT TO THE REGULATION? no 5% something else 15% yes 80% n=202
8) WHAT COULD THE REGULATORS ROLE LOOK LIKE IN THE FUTURE? None of the above 28% Regulators will certify smart contracts 48% Regulators will be replaced by robots 16% Regulators will disappear 8% n=206
INVESTOR PANEL
9) WHICH WILL BE THE FASTEST COUNTRIES/ REGIONS TO ADOPT THE ENERGY BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY? Africa 21% EU 22% Australia 19% USA 24% China 14% n=58
10) WOULD YOU TRADE POWER WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS? No 10% Yes 90% n=132
SECURITY PANEL
11) WOULD YOU ACCEPT SMART METERS IN YOUR HOUSE/COMPANY, IN CASE THEY ENABLE P2P-TRADING & CERTIFICATES FOR LOCALLY PRODUCED RENEWABLE ENERGY? No 9% Yes 91% n=126
12) WOULD YOU PAY A PREMIUM FOR LOCALLY PRODUCED RENEWABLE ENERGY? Yes No 47% 53% n=125
13) IN 2025, MICRO-GRIDS WILL ONLY BE OPERATED BY BLOCKCHAIN Yes 28% No 72% n=124
14) WITH BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY THE GRID WILL BECOME MORE RESILIENT TO CYBER ATTACKS No 27% Yes 73% n=118
PRESS RELEASE: HORIZON 2017 SUMMIT EventHorizon 2017 was the first global summit on blockchain technology in the energy sector convening experts, government officials, decision makers, start-ups and established market players to discuss and develop new energy solutions. It was initiated by the Startup Grid Singularity. Platinum Partner of the event was EY. More than 500 people from 36 countries came together to think about and collaborate on how blockchain will enable a revolution in the energy sector at the historical venue, Hofburg Palace in Vienna. The summit showed that there are a growing number of use cases in development across the energy sector including: peer-to-peer energy trading, the sharing of connected devices, the use of digital currencies to record energy production, enable local markets and to facilitate access to energy. To be the vehicle for the energy sector and to explore the impact of blockchain collectively, Dr. Hervé Touati, managing director of the Rocky Mountain Institute, announced the launch of the non-profit Energy Web Foundation. Welcome remarks were given by Michael Hübner from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology, Ulrike Huemer from the City of Vienna and Ewald Hesse, initiator of the EventHorizon summit. The first keynote speaker was Dr. Christoph Frei, Secretary General at the World Energy Council, who described blockchain as the missing link in the energy system and electricity as the new oil. Ethereum inventor Vitalik Buterin outlined in a keynote his view on the meaning of decentralization and his classification on it. Dr. Gavin Wood, Heiko Hees, Christoph Jentzsch and Ewald Hesse clarified in a fireside discussion many of the confusing aspects of blockchain technology, which is a trusted way to track the ownership of assets without the need for a central authority. An audience poll showed that 59 percent expect the new technology to reduce energy costs. However, since the energy market is subject to state regulations, the regulatory panel discussed the future of regulation avoiding overregulation. Member of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili, mentioned that the first part of the legislation is supposed to be passed around the end of the year. A panel of investors gave unique insights how to attract funding: have a robust technology roadmap, be transparent about strengths and be clear on your strategy and timeframes for growth. But there was also the chance to discuss the important topic of security. Our connected devices are potentially unsecure and exist in hostile environments. In a sense security must be shifted from a feature to a requirement. On the second day focusing on start-ups, investments and security the audience was asked to vote their favourite start-up pitch out of 15 candidates. The winner of the Top of the Horizon 2017 was OneUp. Founder Mark Dijksman received the award under applause of the audience. His company acts as a bridge between large enterprises and small start-ups through a structured approach. It was an exciting and successful summit on blockchain as a key enabler for the energy future and a benchmark for the energy industry. Picture download and further information available at: https://eventhorizon2018.com/recap-2017/
HORIZON 2017 INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT Christoph Burger ESMT Berlin christoph.burger (a) esmt.org EventHorizon media (a) eventhorizon2018.com Grid Singularity contact (a) gridsingularity.com