Elering AS , an independent electricity and gas system operator in Estonia, and WePower , a blockchain-based green energy trading platform that aims to drive global green energy adoption and promote sustainable living, announced a joint pilot project to test the large-scale tokenization of energy data on the blockchain in Estonia.
According to the joint press release, the project will be a real-world test using anonymized data to demonstrate what the future of energy trading on a blockchain might look like throughout Europe.
Elering is developing a smart grid platform based on an existing data exchange layer, dubbed Estfeed, to enable efficient market dynamics in its electricity and gas networks.
"This announcement is very exciting for us because WePower is the first developer outside of Estonia to join the Estfeed platform and confirms our vision that giving access to live data is the best way to test and develop new technologies not only on the blockchain, but for the smart grid in Europe," Taavi Veskimägi, CEO of Elering, told Distributed . "We do this not just for ourselves, but for society in general to work toward a smarter and greener future."
WePower wants to enable buyers to purchase green energy directly from producers at below-market rates using Ethereum-based smart energy contract tokens. According to WePower, energy tokenization ensures liquidity and extends access to capital.
"The goal of the WePower platform is to bridge traditional energy producers and the crypto world together," Kaspar Kaarlep, CTO of WePower, told Distributed . "Building new infrastructure for green energy production is expensive and that is why our energy trading platform will help provide the financing and framework to make this possible. Our goal is to work with the energy market as well as renewable energy producers to evolve the smart grid, not disrupt it."
Future evolutions of this project, which according to Elering and WePower is the first of its kind in Europe, could connect European green energy producers to the Estonian smart grid.
WePower will integrate its blockchain-powered green energy trading platform into Elering's Estfeed data exchange platform. A WePower blog post informs that this pilot project will tokenize an already-functioning energy supply ecosystem. The WePower white paper describes how renewable energy producers will be able to tokenize and sell energy. For example, a renewable energy producer connected to the platform will be able to issue its own WPR energy tokens, each representing 1 kWh of green energy to be produced in a certain time in the future, and to auction tokenized energy to the highest bidders, with priority given to existing WPR token holders.
Legally, WePower acts as an independent energy supplier, allowing the WePower platform to be connected to the energy grid and the local energy exchange market as well as energy end users. According to the white paper, WePower has the potential to become a next-generation utility company, combining blockchain technology, smart contracts, data analytics and machine learning to achieve its core objectives of decarbonization, democratization and decentralization of energy markets.
According to WePower, the pilot project with Elering "will serve as another strong case for governments across the globe on how innovation can help improve infrastructure and systems used by citizens across their nations."
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
