  Prosumers in many regions are facing reduced feed-in tariffs and currently
have no possibility to influence the level of remuneration for the locally
produced solar energy. Peer-to-peer communities may offer an alternative to the
feed-in tariff model by enabling prosumers to directly sell their solar energy
to local consumers (possibly at a rate that is beneficial for both consumer and
prosumer). The Quartierstrom project investigates a transactional energy system
that manages the exchange and remuneration of electricity between consumers,
prosumers and the local electric grid provider in the absence of
intermediaries. This whitepaper describes the prototypical real-world system
being implemented in the town of Walenstadt, Switzerland, with 37 participating
households. The community members of this pilot project pay a reduced tariff
for grid usage if the electricity produced by a prosumer is sold to another
community member, which is located on the same voltage or grid level downstream
a substation1. Such a tariff structure incentivizes local balancing, i.e.
locally produced energy can be consumed locally whenever possible to avoid
costs from higher grid levels. The blockchain is a novel technology suitable to
log the produced and consumed units of energy within a community, making it
possible to implement market places. In those marketplaces, both prosumers and
consumers can indicate a price at which they are willing to sell / buy locally
produced solar energy without the intermediation of a utility. The key goals of
this project are the assessment of A) the technical, economical and ecological
feasibility of a blockchain-based community energy system regarding local
utilization of solar energy, grid quality and energy efficiency and B)
resulting dynamics regarding local market prices and user acceptance.
