POWER TRANSITION LAUNCHED TO PROVIDE REVOLUTIONARY GRID BALANCING and TRADING SYSTEM FOR ENERGY MICRO-GENERATION
Power Transition, set up by Carbon Free Group, is a microgrid management platform that can be used for peer-to-peer trading, but also grid balancing, non-financial reporting and behavioural change through game theory.
A transformative project has been launched that will use blockchain technology to allow for trading of micro-generated energy.
With the Government gradually reducing or removing energy incentives and subsidies, such as the Feed-in Tariff and Export Tariff for solar generation, this new platform will allow businesses and households to trade their excess energy for the best price.
Power Transition takes into consideration local grid infrastructures. This allows for governments, grid operators and participants to be accounted for in a fair and equitable way, while remaining fully accountable to government agencies.
It uses a third generation blockchain platform to monitor data from sources such as inverters and heat pumps, while also taking into account energy being used from smart meters. It then analyses whether to store excess energy in a battery where applicable, or trade the excess to gain the best possible market price for the home owner, organisation or business. The whole process is done automatically.
Power Transition project lead and Carbon Free Group chief technology officer Anthony Morgan said: “Power Transition will move micro-generated energy from being a subsidy-supported system, to a live and automated trading system. This has the potential to offer a new solution to how micro-generated energy is monitored and paid for.
“It will provide the home owner or business with income for their excess energy, but will also help solve the problems associated with balancing grid supply and demand by flexibly matching availability and need for energy.”
With the first phase of the project to demonstrate proof of concept largely completed, the second phase, subject to funding, will trial the system on 47 newly built homes in Corby. Carbon Free Group, which is the major shareholder in Power Transition, is delivering this zero-carbon housing development along with its members.
The buildings will be equipped with multiple levels of sensing and monitoring devices, which will be used to analyse and inform how people are living in this type of home including energy usage.
Core partners in Power Transition include: Carbon Free Group CIC, Electric Corby CIC, Cardiff University, Guard Global and Hedera Hashgraph.
Secondary collaborators include: GTC, BYD, Victron, Matertherm, Project Etopia and NEC.
Investors include: Innovate UK, Guard Global and private investment from Edmond Rube through the HMRC EIS scheme.
Jiro Olcott, Director, Power Transition Ltd
