Energy trading revolution: The Power Ledger

We believe empowering individuals and communities to co-create their energy future will underpin the development of a power system that is resilient, low-cost, zero-carbon and owned by the people of the world.

Power Ledger

Recently I came across a new start-up project, Power Ledger Pty Ltd, founded in 2016, Perth-based Australian software developers of the energy trading platform founded in 2016, that instantly caught my attention, primarily for the idea of bringing solar energy technology into the hands of its users, the people of the world, doing it by applying its blockchain-based software in an attempt to open up peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading behind the meter and across the network, peer-to-peer marketplace for renewable energy. Power Ledger put its hope on a peer-to-peer energy trading platform underpinned by blockchain. The energy market is being disrupted, with new technology bringing radical change. If more and more consumers invest in solar and storage to rely on behind-the-meter generation, the logic goes that fewer and fewer people will be left to share the cost of maintaining networks.

Power Ledger's P2P solar energy trading blockchain technology allows renewable energy asset owners to decide who they want to sell their surplus renewable energy generated at residential and commercial developments (including multi-unit/multi-tenanted) and at homes and businesses connected to existing electricity distribution networks, or within micro-grids, to and at what price, using blockchain technology and providing a transparent, auditable and automated market trading and clearing mechanism for the benefit of producers and consumers. This intriguing technology Power Ledger puts the power to manage the energy economy into the hands of consumers while maintaining the value of existing distribution networks. 

New market for the new world

Blockchain is the underlying technology behind cryptocurrencies, a distributed computing accounting protocol that underpins digital currency, allowing consumers and suppliers to connect directly, replacing the third party from the equation, doing it by using cryptography to keep exchanges secure and providing a large distributed, decentralized database( or 'digital ledger') of  sorts that stores records of transactions that everyone on the network can see, preventing fraud in a way. The ledger is replicated hundreds of times throughout the public network and the network is essentially a chain of computers that all must approve an exchange before it can be verified and recorded publicly so that it can be available and visible to everyone. Every time a new transaction is initiated, a block is created with the transactions details and broadcast to all the nodes. Every block carries a timestamp, and a reference to the previous block in the chain, to help establish a sequence of events. Once the authenticity of the transaction is established, that block is linked to the previous block, which is linked to the previous block, creating a chain called blockchain. Every time a transaction occurs, it is updated in all of these replicated ledgers enabling its visibility. It can work for almost every type of transaction involving value, including money, goods and property.

But let's get back to Power Ledger. In power we trust! To trade electricity utilizing the blockchain, communication hardware must be fitted to a standard digital electricity meter that will keep track of electricity being generated, imported or exported. This is then converted into blockchain tokens that can then be monetized and which are allocated to various accounts within the network – consumers, producers, and prosumers – as trading takes place between the parties.  Power Ledger's role in new energy economy is going to be significant and inevitable, breaking down barriers for individual participation in the energy market. 

Getting involved

Initial coin offerings (ICO) is a concept of raising startup money for a new cryptocurrency venture to bypass the conventional fund raising process by banks and to avoid legal loopholes that come with the other forms of financing new projects and startup ideas, something in between an initial public offering (IPO) and Crowdfunding.

Power Ledger announced that it will arrange Australia’s first ICO to fund its platform, which is already deployed and noted strong pre-sale interest achieving a total valuation of approximately $100 million for its  POWR tokens. POWRs will be tradeable on the Ethereum platform and also convertible into SPARKZ tokens, whose main function is to trade units of electricity on Power Ledger’s private blockchain platform, Ecochain.  So, there will be two types of tokens, POWR and Sparkz, POWR tokens allowing the Application Hosts and their consumers to gain access to the P2P trading features and other Power Ledger applications. Sparkz will be specifically limited to representing the tokenized value of a unit of electricity in varying markets around the world. The POWR token is the access token, like a software license, that grants ability for Application Hosts to transact on the Platform, through trading POWR tokens for Sparkz.  POWR tokens are created to incentivize Platform Participants to use the system. This is done through Power Ledger gifting or discounting POWR tokens to users, such as Utilities or ‘Application Host’ who have a consumer base and are ready to become participants in the Power Ledger Ecosystem. These tokens will be held in escrow for a minimum of 1-3 years to ensure their use on the platform.
 

I wish all the luck and success to this new project and the team, the investors and the contributors. So don't be powerless! Engage in Power Ledger's peer-to-peer vision!

Tips for buyers!

Twitter: @powerledger_io

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/powerledger/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/10675936/

Bitcointalk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2003922.0;all

Steemit: https://steemit.com/blockchain/@powerledger/ann-powr-power-ledger-token-sale