Smart grid uses blockchain for sharing energy
Financial Services
Transactivgrid uses blockchain to record all the microtransactions in its sustainable energy network.
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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