Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading: Empowering Prosumers and Decentralizing Markets

Peer-to-peer energy trading is moving from pilots to policy, and peer-to-peer energy trading lets prosumers sell surplus solar and storage discharge directly to neighbors—cutting bills and boosting renewables.

Local energy exchanges match nearby supply and demand so value stays in the community. European market integration through ENTSO‑E and consumer protections from ACER provide a regulatory backdrop, while city‑ and utility‑level pilots prove the economics. 

Working examples: Vandebron (NL) connects households directly to producers with transparent pricing. Power Ledger (AU) has demonstrated double‑digit bill savings by letting neighbors trade surplus PV.

Piclo (UK) pays communities for providing flexibility to the grid. eFriends (AT) enables closed‑group sharing among friends and families, while SunContract (SI) offers a blockchain marketplace for direct consumer–prosumer contracts. 

Why it matters:

• households save via local prices that reflect real conditions;

• prosumers earn more for exports than standard feed‑in tariffs;

• DSOs benefit from lower peaks, reduced congestion, and deferred upgrades; and

• the grid sees less curtailment of renewables. 

Under the hood, standards and data make P2P practical. Automated control is enabled by OpenADR for demand response and export limiting; interconnection and inverter capabilities are defined by IEEE 1547; EV charging back‑ends rely on OCPP; smart metering uses DLMS/COSEM; and secure device onboarding is supported by Matter. 

Policy unlocks scale. In the United States, FERC Order 2222 opens wholesale markets to aggregated distributed energy resources (DERs). EU member states are developing local flexibility markets where communities can be paid to shift demand or inject power. Clear settlement, consumer protection, and data‑sharing rules are essential to avoid disputes and maintain trust. 

Security and privacy are non‑negotiable. Adopt NIST’s Cybersecurity Framework and GDPR principles; require signed firmware, SBOMs, and mutual TLS; and use tamper‑evident metering and identity—approaches explored by Grid Singularity and Enerchain. 

A rollout playbook for cities and retailers: 1) start with feeder‑level pilots and clear opt‑in; 2) use open standards and publish APIs; 3) integrate settlement with existing billing; 4) provide consumer protections and comparison tools; 5) measure outcomes—peak reduction, self‑consumption, bill savings, and avoided CO₂. 

P2P is a complement to—not a replacement for—the central grid. When paired with smart regulation and secure tech, it decentralizes value, empowers prosumers, and improves reliability for everyone. 

Peer-to-peer energy trading: from neighborhood pilots to market-integrated scale

Open standards, secure settlement, and clear consumer rules turn community energy sharing into a durable market mechanism.