Building the operating system for the new energy marketplace: Power Ledger

Growing worldwide demand for energy, and problems of scarcity and environmental impact associated with conventional sources are at the base of a very probable energy crisis in the next two or three decades. We have to come with better strategies on how to improve energy efficiency with the help of Power Ledger.

Power Ledger is a fast-growing technology company that has developed a world-first blockchain enabled energy trading platform to make energy markets more efficient. It helps people transact energy and trade environmental commodities.

The company has received global recognition for its technology including winning Sir Richard Branson’s international Extreme Tech Challenge in 2018. In addition to recognition for the company, its co-founder Dr. Jemma Green was named the Australian EY Fintech Entrepreneur of the Year.

Power Ledger’s proprietary software is currently being used in multiple countries including Australia, Thailand, India, Japan and the United States. With a team comprised of some of the world’s leading energy and blockchain experts, the company continues to challenge ourselves to create a world powered by renewable energy.

How it all started

Power Ledger was founded in May 2016. That same year its platform went live with proof of concept deployments in Auckland New Zealand and in a retirement village south of Perth, Australia.

The company outlined its vision for the platform in its whitepaper which it made public in 2017. Its whitepaper and progress was very well received by the global blockchain community and in October 2017 it raised AUD$34 million in a token sale to further develop and deploy the technology. Power Ledger was also one of the recipients of a $2.5 million Australian Government grant to establish a Smart Cities trial in the Western Australian city of Fremantle.

Its energy trading platform has been developed on an Ethereum based POA blockchain. POWR tokens an ERC20 are on the Ethereum main network and therefore are freely traded on a number of digital currency exchanges. The company is now in scale up stage of commercialization in which its blockchain enabled software is being used by a number of major international energy companies.

Why it all started

Power Ledger wants to make it easier and cheaper for people to choose energy from renewable sources. Energy markets have failed to keep pace with the advancements in solar technology and battery storage. It saw the need for an energy trading platform that would facilitate the buying and selling of renewable electricity generated from rooftop solar panels, in addition to trading energy stored in batteries.

As its capabilities and expertise have expanded, so too have the applications and use cases of its technology platform. It is using people power, quite literally, to improve its energy systems to make them clean, reliable and affordable. It’s a movement it calls the democratization of power.

Commitment to a Renewable Energy Future

Energy trading: Power Ledger’s energy trading software can be used to buy and sell electricity in real time. If you have solar panels on your rooftop you can use its platform to sell excess energy to your neighbor. If you have battery storage you can store your energy and sell it at the peak to maximize your profit from the solar power you generate. Similar to trading shares on a stock exchange you can set buy and sell prices so that you can trade energy at the right price for you. It gives you security and peace of mind, by recording all transactions on the blockchain.

Environmental commodities trading: Its technology can be used to make the trading of environmental commodities and renewable energy credits more transparent, secure, and efficient. The market for trading environmental commodities is evolving rapidly, and you can use its proprietary blockchain technology to track energy from renewable sources to offset emissions, as well as tracking the multitude of transactions relating to environmental commodities and renewable energy credits.

Renewable asset ownership: The company is developing an asset ownership model that will activate more renewable energy assets so it can boost the portion of green energy available for use. It has a role to play in demanding energy from renewable sources, but it realizes that there needs to be an incentive for a major shift to take place. Not every household can afford to install solar panels on their rooftop, so it has developed another way for people to own a fraction of a renewable energy asset.

Meet the Expert

Dr. Jemma Green, Executive Chairman & Co-founder: Setting her career trajectory early on, Dr. Green became the voice of sustainability and corporate social responsibility in the business of big money lending while at J.P. Morgan in London. She then went on to complete a PhD in electricity market disruption and become a research fellow at Curtin University, was Deputy Lord Mayor of Perth, helped set up Australia’s first fossil fuel free pension fund‎ and has sat on numerous boards championing sustainable business such as the Water Corporation, Carbon Tracker and Climate-KIC Australia. In 2016 Jemma cofounded blockchain technology company Power Ledger and in 2018 received the EY Fintech Entrepreneur of the Year award.

“Our vision is a world where electricity is clean, reliable, affordable and available to everyone.”