OVERVIEW
Sol is a platform that enables the people (prosumers and consumers) in a neighborhood to trade their solar energy at an optimal cost. It is a transparent power system owned by people which helps in empowering individuals as well as the community. It majorly includes a mobile application and a tablet application and gives the user a choice to pair the data with the home automation.
Individual Project
KEY SKILLS
Research, Systems Design, UX Design, Visual Design
PROJECT DURATION
8 Weeks
TOOLS
Sketch, Illustrator, Principle, Photoshop, Overflow
ADVISOR
Federico Villa
WHAT IS THE BIGGER CHALLENGE?
The future of energy is renewable energy.
We are on the cusp of adopting clean energy at a scale never seen before. But for renewable power to continue its rapid advancement, the right decisions need to be taken. Over the past decade, the solar power industry has seen several technological innovations, making a severe impact on the world’s energy systems.
WHAT IS PEER TO PEER SOLAR ENERGY TRADING?
Peer to peer energy trading represents direct trade of electricity between peers. This energy comes from small-scale distributed energy resources and is traded between the prosumers and the consumers.
How might we make the Peer to Peer solar energy trading system trustworthy focusing on the broader needs of the community enabling them to make informed choices for longterm sustainability of energy creation and consumption?
SECONDARY RESEARCH
Understanding the system and the scope
1. Learned and studied the current and the proposed blockchain model and the startups that are trying to test this out.
2. Study the competition and aligned services.
3. Book case-study to learn more about the current grid and the need to adopt new ways.
What I learned?
Blockchain startups are more money and profit-oriented than being user-centric.
There are many services which work on solar loans, solar installation services, and estimators and calculators which operate in isolation.
The current electricity model is centralized, inefficient and with less choice.
PRIMARY RESEARCH
Understanding the user
Interviewing 8 people which included residents (citizens, non-citizens, landlord) and professionals gave me an understanding of the experience of the user with the current electricity grid system and also their opinions on this new perspective.
Having understood their current experiences, I tried to explain to them the new P2P model and the underlying technologies. This was one of the biggest challenges. I had to modify my questions to help the user better understand them.
What I learned?
Trusting the decentralized system is difficult.
There is a monopoly of vendors and no power of choice to the user.
The prosumer and the consumer are not aware of the benefits of the P2P system.
SYNTHESIZING THE GATHERED DATA
DEFINING THE USE CASES
CONSUMER (BUYER)
GOAL:
Adapt renewability at low cost and spend less time in energy transactions.
PROSUMER (SELLER)
GOAL:
Use cleaner, greener energy resources and sell the excess energy to the people who need it.
KEY OPPORTUNITIES
1.
Informed Choices
2.
Create awareness and reduce learning curve
3.
Holistic System
Create an easy to use platform that will help prosumers and consumers make informed decisions.
Making the on-boarding process easier to reduce the learning curve.
Bringing all the physical and digital touchpoints on the same level to create a holistic and user-centric experience.
ENVISIONING THE SYSTEM
Envisioning the system to know how will the platform be useful to the prosumers and consumers achieve their goals was important. Each user has his own goals to use the platform and Sol would try to cater to both of them.
THE SOLUTION
Sol is a platform that enables neighbors to share and trade their energy. It helps the users monitor the solar energy generation, usage and sale. It is trustworthy and accessible as it is a transparent power system, owned by people empowering the individuals as well as the community.
KEY FEATURES
1. On-Boarding : Making people aware about the platform
1. Creating Awareness
Feeding them with the benefits of the platform and how it will be their partner in the renewable energy mission.
2. The Map View
Allows the users to be aware of the prosumers and consumers around them.
3. Giving choice
Enables user to choose if they want to start as a prosumer and consumer.
4. Comparison
Option to the user to add his/her previous bill and make a comparison to get customized benefits.
5. Benefits of adapting renewability
Makes the user aware of his/her benefits and the more significant impact.
6. Pairing option
Giving the user the option to pair with the home automation system to get instant feedback.
2. Dashboard: Know your progress and get daily updates
Enables viewing more information regarding usage and trade. The upper portion is dedicated to daily updates. The history allows the user to dive deep regarding his generation, utilization and sell report.
3. Community: Empowering the neighborhood and making people aware of the growing collective
The community page where articles about the growing collective and other aligned topics are shared. This makes the people aware of the service. It also enables them to start a discussion about any related topic and thus encourages people to share their views and empower the neighborhood.
4. Promos : Incentives to use the platform
The progress of the user is measured in points. Each user gets some dedicated number of points based on his generation, usage, and the selling rate. This acts as an incentive for the user to keep using the platform. There are various redemption options such as points for travel, cash or gift cards.
WHERE IS THE WORLD GOING?
SOLAR ENERGY
Today, a fifth of the world’s electricity is produced by renewable energy. In 2016, there were 160GW of clean energy installations globally. This is 10% more than in 2015, but they cost almost a quarter less.
- World Economic Forum
MICROGRIDS
Microgrids and off-grid energy resources are electrifying areas of India and sub-Saharan Africa that centralized utilities cannot reach; more than 20 million Africans are now receiving essential energy services from distributed solar resources, according to the Lighting Africa project.
BLOCKCHAIN
Power Ledger has partnered with the Clean Energy Blockchain Network, launching its first commercial deployment in the US at the Northwestern University Evanston campus, Chicago.
- TechCrunch
MY LEARNINGS
1. Visual Systems: From this process, I learned that visual systems are very critical. You cannot design an app which is cohesive without the visual system in place.
2. Prioritization is vital: Since this was such a short project, I had to continually prioritize what was more important between building another feature, defining the motions, finishing the flows, or fixing visuals. There was also a point where there was information overload, and it was essential to synthesize the data into right buckets to draw the key opportunities.
3. Pivot points: Working around pivot points is essential. During the ideation process, I realized through my discussion with my peers that the role of the consumer and the prosumer can change as per their needs. They can enter the platform as a prosumer, but if the panels do not generate sufficient energy, then they can be a consumer for some time frame.