Power Ledger partners with French utility to certify renewables with blockchain

Australian blockchain developer Power Ledger has announced a deal to deploy its trading platform into Europe, to track and certify the sales of 100 per cent renewable electricity.

Power Ledger will partner with French green energy retailer ekWateur to roll out a new trading platform for its customers, that will allow customers to choose where they source their power from.

The platform will utilise Power Ledger’s blockchain platform based on “POWR tokens” that will allow electricity to be tracked and certified, providing a level of assurance to customers that they are directly supporting a particular renewable energy project.

EkWateur currently serves more than 220,000 customers across France, who will gain access to the new block-chain based product Vision that will both track energy use and to choose a certified source of renewable electricity.

“Power Ledger’s technology fits perfectly with our vision,” ekWateur CEO CEO Julien Tchernia said.

“Transparency is key for eKWateur. Since the beginning we’ve aimed to offer innovative services to our clients so they can hold all the cards to actively participate in the transition of the energy market.”

ekWater sells electricity from a mix of wind, solar and hydroelectricity projects.

The Perth-based Power Ledger was formed in 2016 to much hype, announcing that they planned to develop a block chain based energy trading platform.

The company attracted a significant amount of interest, particularly during a Bitcoin driven boom in cryptocurrencies late 2017 and early 2018, and secured a $2.57 million federal government grant to support development of the Power Ledger platform in partnership with the City of Fremantle.

Through the issuance of a new cryptocurrency known as POWR tokens, the company raised A$34 million to commercialise and support the development of the platform.

PowerLedger has developed a range of electricity trading platforms, including its xGrid and µGrid platforms that facilitate the trading of rooftop solar generation between users.

At the peak of the blockchain boom in early 2018, the combined market value of the POWR tokens rocketed above US$500 million ($A812 million), but has since settled at a current value of around US$25 million (A$40 million).

The company has since partnered with a range of utilities and governments, and with use the platform to deliver the certification requirements for ekWateur’s 100 per cent renewable electricity sales.

“Power Ledger has proven the technology works and now we’re ready for a full scale country rollout in what will be our largest project to date. This also marks a world-first in energy trading, with customers able to select their energy mix, knowing it’s certified via an immutable blockchain platform,” Power Ledger executive chairman Dr Jemma Green said.

“Whether consumers want to source energy from their neighbour’s solar rooftop panels, or a wind farm in Bordeaux, our platform gives consumers choice and control over their energy source,” Green added.

The new blockchain based renewable energy certification platform is expected to go live before the end of 2020.