Power Ledger

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Power Ledger (POWR) is an Australian company facilitating electricity and environmental commodity trading through blockchain technology. Power Ledger's platforms and products are focused on peer-to-peer energy trading, and includes the ability for the decentralized selling and buying of renewable energy. Power Ledger's scalable platform provides qualified consumers with access to a variety of energy markets, and has been integrated with various energy infrastructures and regulations, worldwide. Dr. Jemma Green, co-founder and chairman of Power Ledger described the company as "a technology company that facilitates peer-to-peer trading of electricity, so everyday people that have got solar panels can trade electricity with their neighbours". [1]

Contents

Founded in 2016, Power Ledger was Australia's first cryptocurrency raising [2] in which they raised $17 million and received criticism for allegedly using "bounty hunters" after their ICO funding model finished in 2017. AUD. [3] In response to criticism surrounding their funding, during a 2020 Select Committee on Financial Technology and Regulatory Technology, [4] Dr Jemma Green asked that more consideration be given to allowing ICOs to operate in Australia, stating "that Australian entrepreneurs are really suffering from a lack of access to venture capital". [5]

Power Ledger has received support from those in Environmental Sciences [6] for their approach to decentralizing energy trading, and has found support in State Government, where on July 2nd, 2020, Western Australia's Governor, Kim Beazley, visited two sites at which Power Ledger's block-chain technology was in use - the White Gum Valley Project – three different apartment buildings, all with solar and battery systems, and the East Village Project – a 670kw hour battery which allows 36 homes to trade with each other via the battery. In his stated reflections, the Governor stated Today I saw the future. It is such a lucky thing that an organisation like Power Ledger should be founded here. To be able to look at how the whole system works, which I think I understand about 20 percent of, is a privilege.. [7]

History

Plans for a blockchain energy trading platform based in Perth, Australia were publicly announced on 11 August 2016 by chair Dr. Jemma Green and managing director Dave Martin. On 24 August the company announced that it would utilize Ecochain technology to store energy readings. Power Ledger's white paper was officially released in a company press release on 27 July 2017. In the white paper [8] , the company revealed an ERC-20 Ethereum-based token called POWR, which would be implemented into the Power Ledger platform, and Sparkz, on their own Consortium Ethereum Network. The company maintained that demand for POWR tokens would increase as the platform user-base grows, thereby changing the price of the token and allowing for the exchange of POWR tokens for Sparkz tokens.

In October 2017, Australian Energy company, Origin Energy performed a three month technical trial with Power Ledger in which they simulated a market based on their customer data. [9] - Origin Energy subsequently decided not to proceed further. [10]

The company paid spruikers to pump the price of the token in 2018. [11]

Funding

The company launched its pre-sale on 27 August 2017. In three days, over 100 million POWR tokens were sold, with 25% sold in the first hour. An extra 5% of tokens was awarded to every transaction that took place during the pre-sale. Power Ledger raised $17 million AUD during its pre-sale, which ended on 3 September 2017.

Public sale of POWR tokens officially began on 6 October 2017, during the company's initial coin offering (ICO). An additional 150 million POWR tokens were offered during the main sale. On 6 October 2017 the company had reported that it had raised over $34 million AUD ($24 million USD) overall during its ICO, including the amount raised during the pre-sale. A reported 15,000 supporters backed the token. [12]

On 17 November 2017 the company announced in a press release [13] that the Australian government had awarded $2.57 million AUD in grants for a two-year research project to take place in the City of Fremantle. The project is expected to be Power Ledger's first examination of the potential of blockchain technology in integrating distributed energy and water systems. Seven additional project partners contributed a combined value of $5.68 million for the project for a total funding of $8 million. The project was the second-largest recipient of the 2017 Smart Cities and Suburbs Program award, a $50 million grant from the Australian government supporting innovative smart city projects. [14]

Peer-to-Peer Trading Platform

The platform's trading market is based on a dual-token ecosystem operating on two blockchain layers: POWR and Sparkz. POWR tokens allow consumers and hosts providing energy to interface with the ecosystem and are protected through Smart Bond technology. POWR tokens can be converted into Sparkz tokens, which can be used for frictionless transactions in the energy exchange market. [15] The initial coin offering for POWR tokens became the largest crowdfunding project in Australia and the 14th highest in the world.

The platform also allows users to gift their generated power to others, such as their parents, children, a local school, or charity.

Projects

The first project of its kind in Australia, the Pilot Project using their 'EcoChain' product connected 15 dwellings to allow the community to trade energy. [16] The Project listed as part of an Economics and Industry Standing Committee report on the 'Implications of a Distrubted Energy Future'. [17]

The project was the second largest grant provided under the program, and involved Power Ledger providing the transactional layer for renewable assets, as well as the ownership model for the community-owned battery. Curtin University was the project lead, taking responsibility for both technical and administrative project management, with Murdoch University providing research support.

Thailand's Renewable Energy developer BCPG partnered with Power Ledger in December 2017, and at the time of announcement was seeking a bank to autonomously settle Peer-to-Peer transactions for the Power Ledger energy trading platform. [18] In February, 2018 Power Ledger's partner, BCPG signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand to study the energy infrastructure for Thailand's Smart Park in the Eastern Economic Corridor; with approval to be expected in September 2020, construction is currently expected to take approximately three years. [19]

The trial with KEPCO, [20] Japan's second-largest electric utility, sought to use Power Ledger's platform to track up to 10 homes in Osaka City, Japan. [21]

KEPCO published an outline of the research performed within the Peer-to-Peer trading platform. [22]

This trial was considered successful in its goals; Power Ledger stated that the trial "proved the accuracy and consumer acceptance of Power Ledger's leading-edge technology in Japan" in their announcement when the trial was subsequently extended in December 2019. [23] The extended partnership with Power Ledger required the creation and tracking of Renewable Energy Certificates (REC's) and solar energy trading.

Power Ledger's first carbon-credit project was in collaboration with Silicon Valley Power in California, when its platform was introduced to provide energy trading settlement for one the largest multi-story EV charging facilities in the State. [24]

Yolk Property Group implemented Power Ledger's technology at their Evermore apartment block, allowing the residents to reduce energy bills by 30%, and was the first apartment development in Australia that was for sale to the public that used Solar PV panels, battery storage, and blockchain technology. [25]

Property company Vicinity is trialing Power Ledger's uGrid platform as part of their $75 million dollarot solar program. [26]

Thailand's BCPG signed an agreement with Chiang Mai University (CMU) to jointly work on a 12MW Solar Rooftop Project and use Power Ledger's energy trading platform. [27] CMU is expected to reduce about 18,250 tons of carbon dioxide each year, using the Solar Panels provided by GCL Systems. [28]

The East Village Project featured a 670kw/h Battery allowing 36 town houses to trade with each other via the community battery. The battery, provided by Power Ledger was also used in the construction of the project to reduce its carbon footprint.

Perth-based Energy company Powerclub partnered with Power Ledger to create a Virtual Power Plan for residents in South Australia, where households could pool their net solar and battery storage. [29] The project marked its first large-scale commercial roll-out of its technology.

Combining Power Ledger's platform into its network management, Element47 integrated the peer-to-peer trading system into Bluerock Project's DeHavilland Apartments to facilitate nine households and one commercial space to share energy generation and a SENEC battery. [30]

Power Ledger signed a three year deal with Nicheliving to provide 100 apartments in Western Australia access to its blockchain energy-trading platform, tying together 10 residential developments in Perth's metropolitan region. [31]

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References

  1. ↑ "How Australians Are Trading Solar Energy With Their Neighbors". How Australians Are Trading Solar Energy With Their Neighbors.
  2. ↑ Latimer, Cole (4 October 2017). "Energy start-up carries out Australia's first cryptocurrency raising". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  3. ↑ "How to make and lose $2b on blockchain". Australian Financial Review. 27 December 2018.
  4. ↑ corporateName=Commonwealth Parliament; address=Parliament House, Canberra. "Select Committee on Financial Technology and Regulatory Technology". www.aph.gov.au.
  5. ↑ "ParlInfo - Select Committee on Financial Technology and Regulatory Technology". parlinfo.aph.gov.au.
  6. ↑ "How Blockchain technology could help you become your own energy mogul". www.abc.net.au. 10 October 2017.
  7. ↑ "Governor visits WA company Power Ledger – Developers of world-first blockchain-enabled energy trading platform". Government House. 3 July 2020.
  8. ↑ "Power Ledger Whitepaper" (PDF).
  9. ↑ Vorrath, Sophie (22 September 2017). "Origin Energy trials solar trading with blockchain start-up Power Ledger". RenewEconomy.
  10. ↑ "How to make and lose $2b on blockchain". Australian Financial Review. 27 December 2018.
  11. ↑ "Blockchain start-up Power Ledger criticised for paying spruikers". Australian Financial Review. 26 December 2018.
  12. ↑ "Power Ledger raises $34 million in one of Australia's first successful initial coin offerings". Smart Company.
  13. ↑ "Australian Government Awards Grant to $8 Million Project In The City Of Fremantle Using The Power Ledger Platform". Power Ledger.
  14. ↑ "Smart Cities and Suburbs Program". cities.dpmc.gov.au. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  15. ↑ "Power Ledger White Paper" (PDF). powerledger.io. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-11-06. Retrieved 2017-12-07.
  16. ↑ "Trial attracts international attention". Busselton-Dunsborough Times. 17 March 2017.
  17. ↑ "IMPLICATIONS OF A DISTRIBUTED ENERGY FUTURE" (PDF). Economics and Industry Standing Committee. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  18. ↑ Ledger, Power (18 December 2017). "Power Ledger Signs Agreement With BCPG To Bring Distributed Renewable Energy Trading To Thailand!". Medium.
  19. ↑ Limited, Bangkok Post Public Company. "High-tech Smart Park to get nod". https://www.bangkokpost.com .External link in |work= (help)
  20. ↑ "Power Ledger to take virtual power plant to Japan". Australian Financial Review. 23 April 2018.
  21. ↑ "Power Ledger & Kansai Electric Power Co. to trial peer-to-peer renewable energy trading in Japan". Power Ledger.
  22. ↑ "豪州パワーレッジャー社のブロックチェーン技術を活用した環境価値取引の実証研究の開始について". 関西電力株式会社 (in Japanese).
  23. ↑ "Power Ledger, KEPCO extend trial to create and track renewable energy credits". Power Ledger.
  24. ↑ https://www.powerledger.io/announcement/power-ledger-partners-with-silicon-valley-power-on-renewable-energy-tracking-for-electric-vehicles/
  25. ↑ "WA apartments use blockchain to reduce energy bills by 30%". pv magazine Australia.
  26. ↑ "Vicinity to trial energy blockchain technology". Vicinity.
  27. ↑ Limited, BCPG Public Company. "BCPG and Chiang Mai University to Jointly Create a Smart University in a Smart City". BCPG Public Company Limited.
  28. ↑ "GCL System Brings Clean Energy to Chiang Mai University". finance.yahoo.com.
  29. ↑ "Energy News: Powerclub partners with Power Ledger to…". Powerclub.
  30. ↑ "Power Ledger enables solar P2P trading in new Perth development". pv magazine Australia.
  31. ↑ "Power Ledger, Nicheliving partner for large-scale solar energy trading rollout in WA". pv magazine Australia.
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