Maj. Gen. (res.) Yiftah Ron-Tal spoke of the fantastic future of electricity consumption, but cautioned his audience of the dangers involved with technological advancement. A special report from Cybertech Global 2020

Israel Electric Corporation Chairman, Maj. Gen. Yiftah Ron-Tal, spoke today (Wednesday) at the Cybertech Global 2020 conference in Tel Aviv. Ron-Tal spoke of how electricity grids of the future will look, and the promise and perils therein. According to Ron-Tal, we are heading toward a future of decentralized electricity: endless energy supply, with efficient storage. A future where everyone will be able to make their own electricity at home – and sell of what they don’t consume themselves.

In this future, Ron-Tal said, a smart grid will connect all manufacturers and consumers, and run the country’s electricity network. This network will be P2P and blockchain-based. It will be an IoE network, and a digital currency will be used to trade electricity on it. It will be a global network too – Global Electric Interconnection will mean a billion people who don’t have access to electricity today will have it in the future.

However, Ron-Tal warned, any technology is hackable. The risks are huge – because everyone is connected not just to large power plants – but to each other.Cyber attacks are already a threat, and they could increase greatly in the future. According to Ron-Tal, many of the newer cyber protection tools aren’t worth their hype. If you look at the past year, he said, most of the investments have gone to existing, proven solutions - and few new cyber companies have been established.