- ABB has partnered with leading Italian energy utility Evolvere, leveraging blockchain technology previously developed with its partner Prosume to enable transparent and secure peer-to-peer energy transactions.
- The pilot opens up new opportunities for energy markets plus new and transformative model development for smart grid environments.
The way people consume and use their energy is changing. For consumers who use their own photovoltaic systems, the question is how to produce and use not only their generated energy, but how to then feed surplus energy into the grid to share with neighbours or other communities.
Blockchain, a publicly distributed registry, is used to store, verify, and maintain peer-to-peer transactions. It also has tremendous disruptive potential for the energy sector and provides a sustainable transactional alternative to traditional models.
The blockchain decentralizes the way transactions are conducted and managed by following a secure and trusted peer-to-peer approach that reduces the complexity and cost to customers (utilities, aggregators, and the entire energy community). In addition, this approach provides a high level of efficiency for consumers and suppliers by enabling fast execution and automatic payment of maintenance and other services.
This latest pilot project between ABB and Evolvere continues to support the claim that Blockchain can be used in energy markets and used by utilities and aggregators to facilitate new business models.
The project demonstrates how blockchain-capable inverters with integrated digital capabilities can enable utilities, aggregators, and power companies to lower capital and operating costs. This is achieved thanks to the ABB Ability ™ platform, which enables new digital solutions such as the generation of Smart Contracts directly into the inverter. Such smart contracts provide greater transparency and security for transactions and open up new opportunities for utilities to develop their businesses.
Franco Giampetruzzi, CEO of Evolvere, says: “We are committed to spreading the benefits of decentralized power generation through smart grid technology so homeowners realize how close we are to sharing energy with other consumers high quality and reliable partner who supports our innovations in the field of blockchain. ”
Prosumerism is driving blockchain technology in the energy sector. Read more
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
