Estonia trades energy with pilot study

334
wepower
Advertisement
   

WePower is partnering with Elering electricity to test a pilot study of trading energy with cryptocurrency. The project will be based in Estonia and will take advantage of Elering’s energy market and monitoring network.
WePower already allows consumers to buy ‘energy tokens’ from a green energy supplier and then use or sell these tokens. A person, for example, could buy tokens from a wind farm and either use electricity represented by the tokens or sell the tokens to someone else. The scheme promises consumers a cheaper way to buy clean energy that would otherwise be expensive.
The scheme will allow green energy producers from Europe to share energy with the Estonian energy grid. The overlap with European providers may be eased by agreements already in place within the European union. Elering already has a data exchange platform and this will be integrated with WePower’s blockchain technology.
Elering already has an energy grid that collects data hourly from meters across the country. WePower will use such data to test out the system, allowing other companies to view the anonymized data and see whether the pilot test is feasible.
The selling of tokens allows for a secure way to transfer energy because the blockchain technology will ensure that the transactions are transparent. A single energy token will be worth 1kWh of green energy. Green energy companies will be able to sell initial tokens at cheaper prices to attract new investors.
The combination of WePower + Elering means blockchain tokens will be connected with an actual asset that has a very practical value. The scheme could also be improved with the addition of smart contracts because the service could be used by everyday people to get electricity for their homes.
The scheme seems like a practical way to boost clean energy while at the same time providing a sustainable platform that could work with a preexisting energy grid.