Articles
June 27, 2019

Powerledger co-founder David Martin’s panel discussion at Event Horizon

In order to trade energy with someone else - you become their supplier. Powerledger co-founder David Martin discusses the regulatory changes at Event Horizon 2019 .

Powerledger managing director and co-founder David Martin joined a panel discussion at Event Horizon 2019 on Peer-to-Peer (P2P) trading, and what it means to transition from a consumer to a prosumer.

The big elephant in the room - regulation.

Powerledger is trying to resolve the issues around energy poverty for consumers who can’t afford to participate in this energy economy.

David Martin said Australia was ahead of the game for renewable energy, with the country implementing practices that the rest of the world will probably see in the next 3-5 years.

However, he cautioned that the impacts of the deep penetration of distributed renewables was driving up the cost of energy for everybody else.

“It’s great for people like me who can afford to put solar panels on their roof but for the guy next door who can’t afford that, he’s bearing the impact of my defection from the grid,” said Mr Martin.

As the cost of energy storage falls and the continued cost of delivering energy via the grid increases, there is greater incentive for consumers to self supply, store and disappear from the grid completely.

“You get a two-speed energy economy developing and the people who are most impacted by it are the ones who can least afford to do anything about it,” said Mr Martin.

Watch the full panel discussion.

Moderator:

Frédéric Wauquiez, Senior Product Manager for DER Orchestration - GE Renewable Energy

Panelists:

David Martin, Co-Founder and Managing Director - Powerledger

Kerstin Eichmann, Managing Director & Machine Economy Lighthouse Lead - innogy Innovation Hub

Jean Michel Glachant, Director of the Florence School of Regulation

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