Legal challenges facing blockchain-based peer-to-peer energy trading

Blockchain-based peer-to-peer energy trading epitomizes multilateral goals, values, and interests vis-a-vis environmental, economic, and social pursuits. It drives innovative complementarities and facilitates energy access and reliability of supply, thus effectively improving the living quality of citizens and communities. However, there is a growing pessimism concerning the deployment of blockchain-based peer-to-peer energy trading across various jurisdictions, mainly due to the rigorous regulatory framework tailored to conventional energy structures. Implementing conventional licensing requirements is ineffective and non-viable for the rapid proliferation of blockchain systems in energy sectors. Due to complex administrative procedures, overbearing bureaucracy, arcane licensing procedures, and rigid requirements, the rate of adoption of peer-to-peer energy trading models has stagnated despite the tapestry of benefits. The prodigious rise of blockchain and advanced metering infrastructures necessitates regulators to apply a variegation of dynamic pricing mechanisms to enable real-time economic gains, increase system flexibility, and facilitate blockchain-based peer-to-peer energy trading. However, the contemporary practices of imposing network charges and the lack of a prosumer-centric regulatory framework pose critical issues and hinder the transition from passivity to agility. This article adopts an explorative and eclectic approach to engage the regulatory gap of blockchain-based peer-to-peer energy trading. By identifying these foundational challenges, countries can implement salient institutional and governance regimes to address these impediments.