New Blockchain-Based Renewable Energy Pilot to Power 500,000 Homes

As the effects of climate change make their mark across the globe, people are more wary of their carbon footprints and are gradually switching to renewable energy.

Swytch, a blockchain-based energy platform will work with Energy2market GmbH (e2m), a leader in aggregated energy trading, on a pilot program which will allow it to power homes in Germany with renewable energy while rewarding users with tokens.

The large-scale pilot program aims to distribute roughly 3.5Gw of solar, wind, hydro and bio-gas energy capacity, which is enough to power over 500,000 homes.

Based in Austin, Texas, Swytch combines smart meter and blockchain technology to reward those who generate low carbon emissions. It does this through an open-source Oracle platform which acts as a distributed authority in determining how much carbon is being displaced and how many tokens should be awarded.

Co-founder and Managing Director of Swytch Evan Caron told Bitcoin Magazine his company has already started leveraging the first version of the Oracle to evaluate the assets being managed by e2m.

“We intend to move toward full-scale adoption of the Swytch protocols for full transparency and traceability of energy and environmental attributes and to reward the assets with swytch tokens,” he states.

e2m is a European leader in aggregate energy trading and provider of market access services. It specializes in managing and optimizing diverse portfolios of generators, consumers, suppliers and grid operators. With a Virtual Power Plant and its 24/7 trading team, e2m has the ability to aggregate power from decentralized generation and consumption systems and market them in real time.

e2m believes the partnership will be beneficial to both parties as it sees Swytch’s approach to tokenized incentives to be quite attractive to the energy producers and traders it serves.

Andreas Keil, CEO of Energy2market GmbH said, “Government-based incentive programs can only do so much, and a more dynamic option is needed. Additionally, some countries, like Germany, will begin phasing out their incentive programs in the next few years. We need to prepare for the future and identify new subsidy instruments and trading mechanism.”

The partnership will allow e2m to gain more insight and leverage blockchain technology while empowering businesses and individuals to be more active in their adoption of renewable energy.

Energy companies have been testing blockchain technology and how it can benefit them. Ethereum-based platform ImpactPPA is seeking to disrupt renewable energy to finance and accelerate global clean energy production. Scanergy was also launched as an energy blockchain for European prosumers. Scanergy makes smart energy trade between prosumers possible while coping with the dynamism in the demand and supply of electricity.