Power Ledger: Blockchain Energy Trading Hits Australia

Asia Blockchain Review
May 1, 2020

A Western Australian energy company, Power Ledger, has signed a three-year deal to install its blockchain energy trading platform across 10 residential developments to be built by Nicheliving in the Perth metropolitan region. The deal will see the deployment of Power Ledger’s Block-chain technology to Nicheliving’s flagship development, SkyHomes Inglewood development and future housing developments over the next three years.

It’s A New Dawn

Power Ledger’s Co-founder and Chairman Dr. Jemma Green believes that the partnership with Nicheliving, the largest medium density developer in Western Australia will deliver block-chain technology to manage energy delivery and trading. The project will start with 62 apartments at ‘Sky Homes’ in Ingelwood, and the development will deliver 100 per cent renewable energy through an embedded electricity network and solar PV and storage micro-grids. “We’re seeing an emerging trend of project developers considering more low cost and low carbon energy supplies during the design phase of their projects…Power Ledger’s platform encourages homeowners to invest in solar energy infrastructure,” said Dr Green.

This Is Energy Re-imagined

The platform will track energy consumption and transactions, enabling the residential developments to sell surplus solar energy to other residents to make the distribution of power more efficient and make the most of what they have. The company is already working with property developers to implement its energy trading software from the ground up, supporting solar and storage in people’s homes as well as shopping center developments. “New homeowners are always looking for ways of reducing the upfront cost of providing power infrastructure and Power Ledger’s platform is available to help pay back a solar investment faster, while reducing the carbon impact of energy,” said Dr Green.

It’s Time For A Rethink

Earlier in April this year, Power Ledger and French green energy retailer ‘EkWateur’ announced that they are offering 220,000 French households a block-chain tool to customize their energy mix. EkWakteur supplies 100% renewable electricity generated from wind turbines, photovoltaic panels and hydraulic plans. It even provides 100% renewable gas from bio-methane, which is no mean feat. With Power Ledger’s block-chain tool, households will be able to select their preferred energy mix and track it in 30-minute intervals. Meeting the targets set by the Paris Climate Accords requires at least a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. A big part of this success hinges on expanding consumer choices and flexibility. Interestingly, seven months ago, Power Ledger announced a partnership with Malaysia’s Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) to pilot its peer to peer energy trading platform. Trials are already underway in Thailand, Japan and the US. Malaysia is aiming for a 25 percent target of renewable energy by 2025 and solar PV installations are expected to be the catalyst in this endeavor.

Academic Research Leads The Way

Researchers at Ireland’s Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) have come up with a research paper on this subject. They propose a new mechanism for forward selling renewable electricity generation. In this transactive framework, a wind or solar farm may directly sell to consumers a claim on their future power output in the form of nonfungible blockchain tokens. Using the flexibility of smart contract code, which executes irrevocably on a blockchain, the realized generation levels will offset the token holders’ electricity consumption in near real-time. They conclude that blockchain technology and the proposed cyber-physical forward trading system would support the development and operation of decentralized energy systems and smart grids.

Sources: Power Ledger, CoinTelegraph, ESRI


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