Researchers at Ireland's Economic and Social Enquiry Institute (ESRI) have proposed that using a blockchain-based "forward trading system" tin can provide a more effective incentive for the smart direction of renewable energy consumption.

In a working paper published on Dec. 20, Mel T. Devine, Marianna Russo and Paul Cuffe proposed a new mechanism for frontward selling renewable electricity generation and tokenizing the interaction betwixt renewable free energy providers and consumers.

Automating renewable free energy trading and direction

Blockchain-based forward trading, the paper outlines, implies a transactive framework in which a renewable free energy provider — say, a air current or solar subcontract — straight sells consumers "a merits on their futurity power output in the form of nonfungible blockchain tokens":

"Claims on hereafter electricity product can be directly traded betwixt generators and consumers through blockchain in a cyber-physical market place [...] ability contracts for time to come delivery are transacted on the blockchain. These claims on future generation could be embodied equally nonfungible blockchain tokens with hereafter electrical ability delivery as the underlying asset."

Its benefit is that information technology can purportedly tackle the ever more circuitous nature of interactions that are evolving in the energy distribution network. Moreover, the mechanism includes the utilize of smart contracts to automate energy command, trading and management within a distributed framework:

"Using the flexibility of smart contract code, which executes irrevocably on a blockchain, the realized generation levels will offset the token holders' electricity consumption in near real-time."

Blockchain for a light-green time to come

In parallel to the consumer-oriented approach taken by the ESRI researchers, power utilities take increasingly been adopting blockchain-based approaches to monetize their renewable free energy investments.

In December 2022, Japan'south second-largest ability utility, the Kansai Electrical Power Co Inc (KEPCO), extended its trial of a blockchain-enabled renewable energy trading platform developed past Australian tech firm Power Ledger.

KEPCO will trial the blockchain platform for its transactions of non-fossil fuel value certificates (NFVs), which provide energy retailers with proof that the portion of energy nether the document is generated from renewable energy sources.

These NFVs can then be used by KEPCO'south clients to beginning claims by carbon disclosure initiatives —  something that is becoming increasingly relevant as international efforts gain momentum to found new frameworks that support lower-cost green energy sources.

In June 2022, South korea'southward largest power provider, Korea Electric Power Corporation, signed a contract with two domestic power suppliers to establish a blockchain-powered system for transacting renewable free energy certificates.