Powerledger – Democratizing Power, for a Sustainable Future

The Silicon Review

Each year, the energy sector becomes more dependent on the newest technological achievements. In fact, it’s transforming more into a software business, as the innovative technology solutions shape the landscape of the energy and utilities expanding capabilities. With its increasing role in the energy business, software has to answer its biggest challenge – the energy transition. Recent investment trends indicate progressing reallocation of the center of gravity within the energy industry from hardware and materials to software. Optimized software is capable of boosting the efficiency of an energy system much more quickly than the newest hardware technology. This focus shifting from materials to intelligence solutions and computing power opens the energy sector to new possibilities in reaching digital sustainability, such as enhanced capabilities.

Powerledger is one such company that develops software solutions for the tracking, tracing and trading of renewable energy. The company is developing systems that bring resilience and flexibility to electricity grids. Its technology is helping clients like TDED in Thailand, CUB in Australia and ekWateur in France bring new ideas and forms of energy to powering their clients and workplaces. Powerledger aims to lead the global democratization of the energy market in a way where people have access to the energy they need, can participate directly in energy markets and improve their lives and the lives of others.

Leveraging Best Software for Democratizing Sustainable Energy

xGrid: It allows an electricity retailer’s customers to trade solar power across the grid. Agile, real time pricing means benefits for the customer, retailer and distribution network alike. xGrid enables households and businesses to sell energy generated from their solar panels to other energy consumers connected to the same electricity grid. It can do this with customers with the same electricity utility or across different utilities; it doesn’t make a difference. The blockchain system will keep track of it all. At the heart of the system is energy trading engine that allows retailers, commercial enterprises or electricity utilities to configure a marketplace in numerous ways. Commercial customers can share solar between their stores based in different locations within the same grid, even when only one of them has a PV installation.

uGrid: It enables energy tracking and trading within embedded networks & microgrids. It can be used in shopping centers, apartment complexes, office buildings and retirement villages with individual or co-owned energy assets. If you live in an apartment building or manage and develop properties for a living, getting everyone comfortable that the system will calculate everything fairly could be a challenge. The Powerledger platform handles this simply and transparently using the blockchain. The platform enables residents to trade solar energy with each other and monetize their roof space. It means residents can buy from those closest to them, keeping the investment, profit and benefit of renewables within the community. In shopping centres and commercial buildings, uGrid can create the marketplace from complex energy systems to deliver return on investment for asset owners.

MODE Flex: Distribution and transmission utilities face a myriad of issues such as congestion and voltage.‍ Up until now, the solution has been to build and expand the infrastructure so that the grid can manage the increasing changes that arise from more and more Distributed Energy Resources (DERs).‍ There is now a new way of approaching this. In this new paradigm, DERs owned by commercial and industrial players like supermarkets, called Flexipreneurs, help stabilize the grid. Flexipreneurs can be grouped together to offer flexibility services, such as congestion or voltage management, and are rewarded with greater income for their assets. Distribution and transmission utilities benefit as they are then able to defer investing in new infrastructure, with draw on the grid reducing.

TraceX: It is a digital marketplace that uses blockchain technology to efficiently handle the trading of Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs), such as Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), Guarantees of Origin (GOs), carbon credits and other environmental instruments. They are members of EnergyTag, an industry-led initiative to define and build a market for hourly electricity certificates that work with existing certificate schemes. This platform can be used by generators who have certificates to sell, or by utilities and organizations who are seeking to buy certificates to meet regulatory obligations or voluntary sustainability targets. Brokers and traders will find TraceX a highly efficient way to manage their clients' renewable energy certification needs.

The Ardent Visionary at the Helm of Powerledger

Dr. Jemma Green is a co-founder and the Executive Chairman of Powerledger. She is dedicated to creating a viable market for renewable energy that empowers consumers. This mission began with her PhD in electricity market disruption - the seed of the idea for Powerledger - and her championing of sustainability and corporate social responsibility while working in finance for banks like JP Morgan. In 2018 Dr. Green won Sir Richard Branson’s Extreme Tech Challenge award followed by the EY Fintech Entrepreneur of the Year award. She lives in Perth with her husband and three children.