HoSEM: Regulating the Energy Sector


A workshop on Regulating the Energy Sector 

was held in Bristol on 13th July as part of the HoSEM project. The research team expect to publish workshop outcomes in a few weeks, but these notes indicate some of the questions discussed.
The challenges in today’s energy market.
Regulation and legislation applied to peer-to-peer (P2P) trading; buying and selling energy, data storage and protection, platform technology, supply and provision rights, consumer and climate protection, energy security.
Whose is the responsibility for driving energy regulation?
The regulation of new partnerships in the energy market.
The implications of making data on energy generation and distribution public through distributed ledger technology.
Preferential Policies
Which energy system trends does UK regulation favour?
Does it favour centralised low-carbon generation?
Under what circumstances might it favour P2P trading?
The future of P2P trading
Will P2P trading be outsourced to parties such as the existing utilities?
Does P2P trading benefit energy security?
Is it a solution in search of a problem?
What will be its role in the markets for tracked data?
How will it impact the environment and greenhouse gas emissions?
Regulation for System Transition
How can regulation assist a smooth transition from the present energy system to one which is more distributed and resilient?
Can we envisage a route to the provision of energy services (not just energy) by community groups, among other businesses, by say, 2025?
Management of Disruptive Technologies
How does UK (and EU) regulation accommodate disruptive technologies and business models?
What scale of grid management might emerge?
What legal and regulatory concerns need to be addressed?
How can the goal of community ESCOs be reached by 2025?
Blockchain and Smart contracts
Regulatory barriers and the implications of making energy data public.
Third Party Control
The regulatory barriers to third party control of household and ESCO supply.
The issue of enhanced transparency through distributed ledger technology.
Further detail can be expected on the HoSEM discussion group website
http://hub.communityenergyengland.org/projects/136/
as analysis of the workshop proceeds.

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