Co-investigators Ronald Rivest , Catherine Tucker , Christian Catalini , Chelsea Barabas , Simon Johnson , Nickolai Zeldovich , Alex 'Sandy' Pentland , Andrew Lippman , Ethan Zuckerman , Cameron Kerry , Michael Casey , Neha Narula
A DCI team, working with students and faculty from the MIT Sloan Management school and MIT Engineering Department, is exploring using digital currency and distributed-ledger technology to securitize transactions among users and owners of blockchain-managed solar microgrids. The goal is to create a secure form of reliable, executable collateral to lower risks for lenders and reduce the cost of financing decentralized renewable energy infrastructure, especially in developing countries. The team is developing an Ethereum-based smart contract that triggers timed access to a solar electricity resource while payments by the user are up to date. The idea is to create a form of “smart property” whose usage rights can be managed remotely. The team is exploring different investment structures to manage these resources, including a cooperatively owned microgrid in which power generation, sharing and usage, as well as payments and administrative protocols are governed via decentralized, blockchain-based mechanisms. Pilot sites are being explored in India and other parts of the developing world. The long-term objective is to create a platform upon which financial engineers can create structured securities backed by solar generation revenues, allowing higher level capital to flow down to local projects and finance the ongoing rollout of a decentralized renewable infrastructure in the developing world.