Power Ledger expands footprint in Japan

Australian start-up’s blockchain-powered platform will be used by Japan’s Sharing Energy to track renewable energy consumption.

Perth-based energy trading start-up Power Ledger has expanded its presence in Japan, with the company’s blockchain-powered platform set to play a crucial role in the country’s quest to reduce its carbon emissions by 26 per cent by 2030.

The company, one of the most successful blockchain-based business in Australia, has signed a partnership with Japanese solar energy installer Sharing Energy, which will use the Power Ledger platform to track renewable energy consumption of selected customers.

According to Power ledger, the project is expected to grow from 100 rooftops to over 55,000 by the end of 2020, with plans to sell the service to consumers via interested third parties or following Sharing’s procurement of a retail licence.

Power Ledger will initially provide near real-time usage data to Sharing, and from November onwards Sharing will use Power Ledger’s peer-to-peer platform to facilitate energy trading between sellers and buyers using real-time data from existing smart meters.

A successful deployment will verify the feasibility and scalability of peer energy trading in Japan and Power Ledger chairman and co-founder Jemma Green said the partnership further reinforced the role blockchain-powered marketplaces could play in helping to lower carbon emissions.

“This partnership is an exciting example of how our blockchain technology can make visions of implementing scalable, renewable energy solutions a reality for partners and communities worldwide,” she said.

Power Ledger is already working with Japan’s biggest privately-owned electricity retailer Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO) to develop a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) model to help address Japan’s challenges with excess solar generation.

“As our country is re-evaluating how people and businesses buy and sell energy, we are fortunate to be working with an established leader like Power Ledger,” said Emiko Koga, president of Sharing Energy.

“And we look forward to positively impacting the Japanese energy market alongside them and supporting their commitment to provide clean energy that is affordable and available to all.”

Having raised $34 million in October 2017 in what was hailed as the biggest initial coin offering in Australia, Power Ledger has managed to establish itself as a viable blockchain business despite claims that the technology is overhyped.

Ms Green said that while some of scepticism is warranted blockchain technology was here to stay.

“As an industry it’s still largely unregulated, so a good dose of scepticism is necessary.”

“There’s a huge education process underway within the industry,” she added.

The Australian tertiary education sector is keen to do its part to better educate the local market, with Melbourne’s Swinburne University partnering with global IT consultants Capgemini to launch of the global Blockchain Centre of Excellence.

According to Professor Yang Xiang, head of the centre, many of the broader issues and problems associated with blockchain have not been well understood.

“This is primarily due to the fact that too much has been promised or expected too early, also, most organisations initially did not invest the time and effort required to develop their own blockchain business strategy and capabilities prior to adopting blockchain.

The centre will see a multidisciplinary team from Swinburne University work with Capgemini’s talent to develop blockchain solutions from proof-of-concept to production.

“Successful deployment of blockchain is not only about technology, it is a complex digital systems solution involving “many moving parts” so to say,” Professor Xiang said.