Integrating physical devices with IOTA — Peer-to-peer energy trading with IOTA Part 2

Integrating physical devices with IOTA — Peer-to-peer energy trading with IOTA Part 2The 19th part in a series of beginner tutorials on integrating physical devices with the IOTA protocol.Introduction

This is the 19th part in a series of beginner tutorials where we explore integrating physical devices with the IOTA protocol. This the second part in a two part tutorial where we look at using the IOTA token as the settlement currency in a peer-to-peer energy trading solution. In the first part we focused on monitoring real time power consumption and making payments accordingly. In this second part we will look at dealing with variable energy prices, a common problem that must be addressed when dealing with renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydro etc.

Note!
If you haven’t already, you should check out the first part of this tutorial before continuing as it forms the basis for the project we are building in this tutorial.

The Use Case

After having there new IOTA based peer-to-peer energy trading solution up and running for some time, our two neighbors again meet to discuss an unexpected problem with there new system. The neighbor explains that due to bad weather the last couple of months his solar power system have not been producing the amount of energy he was hoping for, and that the original energy price (0.2 IOTA per mW/seconds) they both agreed upon is starting to look as a bad deal for him. They could of course simply adjust the price so that the neighbor gets a higher price for his electricity; but what if the weather improves and his solar panels start generating more electricity? In that case the hotel owner ends up with the short end of the stick. What they need is some type of mechanism that dynamically adjusts the price based on the amount of energy the solar panels are producing at any given time.

Let’s see what we can do: