Crypto currency and solar power. BlockChain, and Power ledger

I’m excited but a little confused about the new economy of crypotcurrencies . In the era of Blockchain and bitcoin, the newest development is peer to peer trading of solar energy that you produce. The energy produced by our rooftop solar system is about to become a tradable commodity.

Trails are currently underway and in the near future, your stored energy in batteries and excess solar power can be released into the grid and sold for crypotcurrency units called POWR. A unit of POWR is similar in many ways to bitcoin, but instead you are trading in Kwh and the units of POWR.

The platform has been developed by the Australian company Power Ledger which uses the blockchain technology that underpins cryptocurrencies. This will allow households, community organisations and businesses to trade their surplus solar energy with each other at rates that exceed the low feed-in tariffs offered by most utilities.

The Australian government has awarded 8 Million dollars to develop trials using the Power Ledger platform to trial the system. Origin have also shown an interest and conducting trials. In the area of speculative crypto currency trading the price of POWR has steadily increased in value. Its one thing to speculate on crypto exchanges, it’s another to deal in real tangible assets like your excess power.

This is our focus and the best way to prepare for this is to install a good sized solar system with a battery system.

Imagine a neighborhood, all equipped with solar panels. These houses could produce, store, and trade electricity based on their needs. Some houses would need extra, and some would have a surplus.

A world-first public trial for 80 homes, involving the trading of water and electricity without support from a major grid, is about to commence in Fremantle, Western Australia.

Power Ledger has developed a series of world-leading blockchain energy applications, such as a P2P energy trading application that allows businesses, such as Utilities, to host trading on the Platform. Blockchain technology provides a transparent, auditable and automated market trading and clearing mechanism for the benefit of producers and consumers.

The technology enables the sale of surplus renewable energy generated at residential and commercial developments (including multi-unit/multi-tenanted) connected to existing electricity distribution networks, or within micro-grids. Power Ledger puts the power to manage the energy economy into the hands of consumers, while maintaining the value of existing distribution networks.

Power Ledger allows for each unit of electricity to be tracked from the point of generation to the point of consumption within the building it is generated, or when sold to other consumers, using the local electricity distribution network. Blockchain technology couples a tracked energy transaction with a financial one, making the process of realising the value of renewable energy investments simple and secure. Power Ledger allows renewable energy asset owners to decide who they want to sell their surplus energy to and at what price. Energy traded across the distribution network is tracked providing a secure revenue stream for DNSPs.

Power Ledger’s platform uses the technology to track the generation and consumption of electricity for all trading participants with compliant meters and autonomously settle energy trades on pre-determined terms and conditions.

The result is a win/win scenario for consumers with the end result being a higher return on investment for roof top solar. We have already seen a dramatic drop in prices and returns and this new technology will allow those with battery systems the opportunity to Capitalise on their investments.

We are closely following the progress of power ledger and will keep you updated. To remain in the loop about cryptocurrency energy trading subscribe to our blog