State Grid Corporation inaugurated its Blockchain Technology Laboratory on July 6th in China, to support its aims regarding a decentralized digital grid which uses the Internet of Things. The Laboratory will see both R&D and run pilot projects of blockchain business models. State Grid is the country’s state-owned utility, with assets worth $600 billion dollars. Last October, the Chinese premier Xi Jinping himself identified blockchain as an important innovation for the energy sector and industrial reform, and the government has been pushing it since 2016. Blockchain technology promises to play a central role in distributed energy generation, consumption, and trading, allowing peak-shaving and Demand Response actions, performing a role similar to Virtual Power Plants. All of these will be important…