Power Ledger Announces Extension of Its Trial With KEPCO for Creating and Tracking RECs

In a bid to create and track renewable energy certificates and to trade solar energy, leading Australian blockchain company Power Ledger has decided to extend its trial with Japan’s second-biggest energy firm Kansai Electric Power Company.

 In the new agreement, KEPCO will be using the blockchain platform of Power Ledger to create, track, trade, and offer for the settlement of non-fossil value or NFV certificates produced from rooftop solar systems.

Earlier, the two companies carried out a peer to peer or P2P energy trading trial for additional power in Osaka with automatic settlements by using cryptocurrency.

Japan has already emerged as the world’s fifth-largest electricity consumer in the year 2018. The country has produced a mere 17.5 percent of its energy from renewable sources. 

Earlier this year in May, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry arrived at the conclusion to carry on its sale of NFVs. It helps in providing energy retailers with proof that the portion of the energy under the certificate has been produced via renewable sources of energy.

The enterprise electricity consumers are allowed to use NFVs to conform to RE100 parameters. It is a global initiative for corporates that highlights their commitment to using 100 percent renewable energy.   

Jemma Green, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Power Ledger said, amid the rapidly emerging market for trading environmental commodities, the pressure to ensure that credits are not double-counted is immense. And, in the present scenario blockchain will be able to track a REC throughout its lifetime right from generation to being claimed.

KEPCO customers will be able to trade RECs among themselves by simply using the blockchain platform. Power Ledger’s generated REC tokens will be stored in a central KEPCO wallet. As of now, the trail is slated to begin this month and likely to continue till March 2020. 

Power Ledger has gained commercial deals in Australia. The firm is already running trials in various countries that may include India, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, and the USA.  Earlier, KEPCO tied up with Japanese blockchain company BUIDL on a blockchain energy trading platform using electric vehicles or EVs.