5Gain - Decentralized Energy Management
Sector: Tertiary sector · Industry: Renewable energy · Organisation: adesso SE, DEW21, TU Dortmund · Maturity level: Pilot
The 5Gain project develops a blockchain-controlled peer-to-peer energy trading platform for decentralized energy systems. The solution combines 5G communication technology with AI-based load management to optimize grid stability with increasing decentralized renewable energy feed-in. The system enables prosumers to trade surplus energy directly with other consumers while improving grid utilization.
Documentation status
- Project status: Pilot
- Evidence: Evidence medium
- Editorial review: Ufuk Avci, 15 April 2026
Description
The 5Gain project is a German research initiative on local P2P energy trading based on blockchain technology. The concept: households with photovoltaic systems sell surplus electricity directly to neighbours — smart contracts on the blockchain automatically regulate price, billing and quantity balancing, based on smart meter data.
The traditional German energy market only knows the feed-in tariff for prosumers: surplus electricity is fed into the grid at a regulated price, while neighbours buy at a higher price from the utility provider. P2P energy trading on blockchain would change this: producers receive more, consumers pay less. 5Gain (50komma2 magazine) examined this model for the German context. Blockchain components: smart meters for real-time measurement data, smart contracts for automatic price discovery (market mechanism: producer offers, consumer buys) and billing, public or private blockchain for immutable transaction documentation. From a regulatory perspective, Germany has taken initial steps in this direction with the EEG 2023 and Energy Sharing: §14a EnWG allows controllable consumption devices; energy sharing in community self-supply is emerging. Globally, projects like Brooklyn Microgrid (LO3 Energy + Siemens) and Powerledger (Australia) show that users save 6–12% on electricity costs and producers earn 18–37% more.
Perspectives
B2B — organisations perspective
Energy cooperatives and municipal utilities can offer P2P energy markets as a value-added service, thereby optimising customer loyalty and grid utilisation — without costly central marketplace infrastructure.
B2C — consumers perspective
Households with PV systems receive fairly remunerated direct sales of their surplus electricity to neighbours — significantly more lucrative than the flat feed-in tariff. Neighbours pay less than they would to the utility provider.
Employees perspective
Employees in the energy sector receive new digital tools for grid management and must familiarise themselves with blockchain technologies and AI-based systems. The automation of trading processes changes traditional workflows and requires new skills in monitoring and optimising decentralised systems.
Benefits
General
- The system improves grid stability through optimised load distribution and better integration of fluctuating renewable energy sources.
- Automated smart contracts significantly reduce transaction costs and billing errors in energy trading.
- The decentralised structure increases the resilience of the energy system against failures and external disruptions.
B2B — organisations
- Energy supply companies can open up new revenue streams as platform operators while simultaneously reducing costs for grid stabilisation.
Employees
- Employees receive modern digital tools for more efficient grid management and real-time monitoring of energy flows.
Challenges
General
- Dependence on stable 5G networks and mobile operators can affect the entire system in case of outages.
- Coordination between various actors such as prosumers, grid operators and regulatory authorities requires complex governance structures.
B2B — organisations
- Companies must make significant investments in new IT infrastructures and employee training without guaranteed returns.
Employees
- Employees must acquire extensive new knowledge in blockchain technologies and AI systems, which requires time-consuming further training.
Technology foundation
The system is based on a hybrid blockchain architecture that uses Ethereum technology and processes automated energy trading transactions via smart contracts. Blockchain technology is particularly suitable for this use case as it enables transparent and secure transactions between many decentralised energy producers and consumers without a central control point.
Implementation examples
5Gain field test Dortmund
The consortium aimed to solve the challenges of the energy transition with increasing decentralized feed-in of renewable energies. The goal was to reduce grid instabilities while simultaneously developing new business models for direct energy trading between consumers.
A consortium of IT service providers, energy suppliers and a university developed and tested a blockchain-based peer-to-peer energy trading platform.
The 5Gain consortium implemented a comprehensive solution for decentralized energy trading that combines blockchain technology with 5G communication and AI-based load management. The system was deployed in a real test neighbourhood and demonstrated significant improvements in grid utilisation. The solution enables prosumers to trade surplus energy directly while ensuring grid stability through intelligent load distribution.
The system addressed the problems of fluctuating energy feed-in and unbalanced grid loads in decentralized energy systems. The blockchain-based solution reduced transaction costs and significantly improved the efficiency of energy trading.
Tags
Energy trading, Smart grid, 5G, AI, Decentralisation