https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/02/artic ... -in-japan/"A peer-to-peer energy sharing programme that trades solar power, via smart meters between apartment buildings and businesses, is being tested in Japan
Although blockchain has numerous applications, the majority, up until now, have been associated with Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
Energy is one of the more mainstream industrial sectors that is being increasingly associated with blockchain and now an Australian company has been using the technology to enable solar power sharing. The company’s latest peer-to-peer trading initiative is working to expand the renewable energy market in Japan.
This week Perth-based Power Ledger announced a partnership with Japan’s Sharing Energy Company. Power Ledger provides a blockchain-based tokenized energy trading platform while Sharing Energy is a provider of solar installations and equipment. The partnership’s initial pilot project will track renewable energy consumption from the solar panels of 100 individuals across the Kansai, Chubu and Kyushu regions.
According to a Power Ledger company blog, the project is expected to expand to around 55,000 Japanese rooftops by the end of next year.
In recent months, Power Ledger has also expanded into southeast Asia with the aim of revolutionizing renewable energy distribution systems while also reducing carbon footprints. Chairman and co-founder of Power Ledger, Dr Jemma Green, said the company is “proud of the work we are doing in Japan, and the strides we are making in democratizing energy across the globe.”
Green added that the partnership “is an exciting example of how our blockchain technology can make visions of implementing scalable, renewable energy solutions a reality for partners and communities worldwide.”
Post-Fukushima, Japan has said it will make renewable sources central to its energy supply mix. Power Ledger is already working with the country’s biggest privately-owned electricity retailer, Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO), on a Virtual Power Plant project that aims to assess and then redirect excess solar energy.
For the recently announced project, Sharing Energy will be receiving real time data from Power Ledger to facilitate peer-to-peer energy trading, between “social systems like apartment buildings or businesses” via existing smart meters. The pilot study will verify the feasibility and scalability of peer-to-peer energy trading in Japan and, says Sharing Energy, allow it to then go on to conduct research on energy transactions via Power Ledger’s blockchain-powered platform."
If I understand it correctly (and I don't say that I do get the whole idea), the idea is to use blockchain algorithms to help automatically settle transactions between people with too much solar kwh on their hands and people who want to buy them. Apparently while cutting out the traditional middleman (the power company).
If I had time to read up on this, maybe I'd understand how they want to go from 100 to "55,000 Japanese rooftops by the end of next year".
Edit: here' some more info:
https://medium.com/power-ledger/power-l ... 683c60b57d"Sharing Energy is a Japanese company. I AND C-Cruise Co.Ltd., is one of the Sharing’s shareholders, which operates several comparison web services for PV systems, house reforms and household gas which have achieved over 200,000 users in Japan. The other one is Energy and Environment Investment Inc., which is Japan’s only VC fund focussed on energy and environment.
Currently, Sharing Energy offers customers free installation of its solar PV. Sharing intentionally installs excess capacity and in return customers receive free solar energy for their homes. Sharing Energy takes the excess energy generated by the solar PV via a feed-in tariff. Once the feed-in tariff ends in Japan, Sharing plans to sell the excess energy to interested third parties."
The most interesting part would of course be to know how they provide an economic benefit to their customers. Getting the roofs for free sounds like a good idea, though.