Today Austria’s largest energy firm Wien Energie and RIDDLE&CODE Energy Solutions, the IoT and blockchain company, announced the successful launch of MyPower, a blockchain-based energy tokenization platform.
MyPower tokenizes solar panels or photovoltaic (PV) assets, allowing customers to purchase shares in PV plants across Austria. In return, the customers receive kilowatt-hour tokens which are securely stored in digital wallets and notarized on the blockchain. Based on the amount of power generated by the solar panels, customers receive additional tokens and may then redeem their kilowatt hour tokens through energy bill payments or grocery purchases.
The current market structure of energy grids is limited by one-way energy and value flows, meaning that consumers are essentially excluded from participating in energy production. Yet, it is becoming increasingly clear that local energy communities and microgrids will play a crucial role in the adoption of renewable energy systems.
The key innovation with this platform resides in how it enables the consumer to participate in the new prosumer energy market. ‘Blockchain has the potential to transform consumers into prosumers and active participants in the energy network’, said Michael Strebi, CEO of Wien Energie.
MyPower has passed the Minimum Viable Product stage, and the next step is MyPower 2 Go, which involves peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading within microgrids.
The solution uses Riddle&Code’s Trusted Gateway, a secure hardware and software device giving a physical object with a unique identity and providing provenance to the data generated, in this case, the power generated.
For MyPower, the tokens generated can be spent. However, others have experimented with using tokens in buy-to-lease solar energy marketplaces, such as the South African-based blockchain firm Sun Exchange platform.
Meanwhile, Austria has been at the forefront of renewable energy innovation. The Austrian Power Grid has experimented with Energy Web for integrating distributed energy resources (DERs) such as solar panels into the main grid. It also joined Equigy, a consortium of European energy firms exploring the use of blockchain for renewables.
