Yesterday OVO, a UK energy supplier with 1.5 million customers, announced that it has made a minority investment in energy blockchain startup Electron through its intelligent energy unit Kaluza.
Kaluza’s funding is based on the companies’ shared vision for a distributed, flexible and zero-carbon energy system. The money will be used to speed up the development and implementation of Electron’s energy platforms and systems.
Electron is an energy technology company based in London. Founded in 2015, the firm focuses on using blockchain and energy expertise to build and design innovative digital infrastructure for the energy industry, supporting the four new market norms of decarbonization, decentralization, digitization and democratization.
Decarbonization refers to cutting down the use of fossil fuels and increasing the supply of renewable sources such as wind and solar energy. Renewable assets are often decentralized, compared to traditional centralized fossil fuel plants.
The digitization of the energy industry stems from rapid technological developments. In addition, the democratization of the industry arises from the increasing desire for consumers to take a more active role and generate their own electricity.
Jo-Jo Hubbard, Co -Founder and CEO of Electron commented: “OVO is perfectly placed to support the development of our asset identity and trading platforms. We are delighted to be working with an exceptional international partner to deliver on our vision of efficient, inclusive and coordinated energy markets.”
Electron is internationally recognized within its field. It was named a 2017 World Economic Forum “Technology Pioneer”, and also a “Cleantech 100” company. It currently operates within three countries. In October 2018, Electron signed a cooperation agreement with eEnergy Centre to develop and implement its flexibility trading platform in Switzerland. In September, Electron’s blockchain platform was used by EDF Energy and UK Power Reserve to complete the first trade of capacity market obligations.
Other energy startups
There are numerous blockchain energy startups, but a handful have managed to land multiple deals. The Energy Web Foundation has done the most deals with Shell, e.on and Siemens as partners. Ledger Insights also wrote about two Spanish projects with Iberdrola and Acciona in which it participated.
New York based LO3 has been in the news recently with Japanese deals announced with Kyocera and Marubeni. There’s also Electrify in Singapore and Power Ledger in Australia.
