Elering has signed an agreement with the blockchain-based renewable energy trading platform developer, WePower, which is the first international solution to join the Estfeed smart grid platform.
“The transmission system operator, Elering has an interest in creating innovation opportunities in the energy sector by removing barriers to entry into the market. The WePower project is a good example of how Estfeed allows the creation of new energy services through the sharing of energy data,” said Chairman of the Elering Board, Taavi Veskimägi. “International interest in connecting to Elering’s smart grid supports our goal of being the leader in the digitalisation of energy systems in Europe and developing a future smart grid platform outside Estonia as well.”
During the pilot project, WePower will connect its platform to Estfeed, thereby receiving hourly energy production data. The aim of the project is to test a solution that will allow Estonian investors to invest in renewable energy with the help of the blockchain platform elsewhere in the world and allow interested parties around the world to invest in the generation of green energy in Estonia using cryptocurrency.
Estfeed will provide WePower with energy metering data proving the production of renewable energy under the same conditions as every other market participant. Neither Elering nor Estfeed will participate in the financial part of the investments, including cryptocurrency transactions.
“Estonia is the ideal place for the development and testing of the new generation of energy services, as there is already a developed smart grid infrastructure in place with which we can integrate our technology,” said WePower co-founder and CEO Nick Martyniuk. “Our cooperation is a vivid example of the potential of blockchain platform in the renewable energy sector and a major step towards the creation of a global cryptocurrency-based energy trading system,” he added.
The Estfeed smart grid is designed to allow solutions and data sources connected to the platform to exchange energy data securely and verifiably. The platform allows end consumers, energy service providers, dispersed producers and network operators to use near real-time energy consumption data.
Elering is an independent electricity and gas system operator in Estonia whose main duty is to guarantee high-quality energy supply to Estonian consumers at all times. To ensure energy security of supply, Elering maintains and develops both electricity and gas internal transmission networks and external connections. In addition to the physical networks Elering is developing a smart grid platform in order to enable efficient market functioning. The technical basis for the platform is the Estfeed data exchange layer that allows end consumers, energy service providers, scattered (small) producers and network operators to easily and securely access the data that is needed in their daily operations.
WePower is a blockchain-based green energy trading platform. It helps renewable energy producers to raise capital by issuing their own energy tokens. WePower connects energy buyers (end users and investors) directly with the green energy producers and creates an opportunity to purchase energy upfront at below market rates.
WePower has developed Ethereum Smart Energy contract tokens to standardize, simplify and globally open currently existing energy investment ecosystem. Energy tokenization ensures liquidity and extends access to capital. WePower wants to help build an infrastructure to bridge renewable energy producers output and traditional energy grid operators thus making the grid a little greener. WePower blockchain solution is already recognized by Elering, one of the most innovative Transmission System Operators in Europe.