Smart grid uses blockchain for sharing energy
Financial Services
Transactivgrid uses blockchain to record all the microtransactions in its sustainable energy network.
We have seen microgrids deployed around the world to provide sustainable energy, with projects providing solar power to homes in rural Africa. Now, a microgrid in the US is using smart contracts that buy and sell energy securely using blockchain.
Transactivgrid is a sustainable energy grid based in Brooklyn, New York. The grid connects users to solar energy in the neighborhood, and makes use of a blockchain system to ensure all payments are secure. The startup says this offers a hardware and a software solution.
The grid uses nodes to count up transactions between users buying and selling energy. Blockchain, a by-product of Bitcoin transactions, allows these many transactions to be recorded and effectively verified for buyers and sellers even on a very small scale — this ensures that no energy is lost.
The startup say using blockchain technology to keep a full record of the transactions could make auditing the books much more efficient in community energy. As community energy projects and peer-to-peer transactions become more commonplace, such software could be key to keeping track of all the energy transfers in a sophisticated grid.
How else can sharing economy microgrids become more useable and integrated into existing energy infrastructures?
28th April 2016
Email: info@lo3energy.com
Website: transactivegrid.net
