People in Switzerland Using Blockchain to Trade Solar Energy

By Kapil Gauhar

Blockchain is now being used for trading excess solar energy in the Schwemmiweg district of St. Gallen. Though local people have backed the long-year pilot, regulations are needed prior to they implement it in Switzerland, on a broader scale.

Amid the course of the time, the households, as well as retirement homes, consumed 25% of the solar power from their neighbours. Everything was told about 32% of the energy generated in the neighbourhood by the participants. Just less than half of the generators consumed. As indicated by an industry news report, 18% were sent to the utility network Walenstadt Wasser and Electric Co.

The Zug’s Swiss town is usually termed as the crypto valley, as many startups, as well as entrepreneurial companies, are based in the blockchain and crypto-development area of the Swiss town.

Prosumers make more income from the sales of nearby energy than from their usage into the grid, as per the project partners. Also, the consumers will be attracted for trading since they would pay less to the neighbour than to the utility for electricity.

Swiss-based companies as well as universities, including Bosch IoT Lab, run the one-year Quartierstrom project under the threshold of its project Lighthouse, which is supported by the energy ministry of the Swiss federal government.

Trades between the participants directly take place, and the producers can set the least prices using a portal and maximum price for the consumers. In these participating households, a mini computer with an integrated power meter, and software blockchain was installed. These blockchain nodes issue tenders every 15 minutes for the purpose of acquiring or selling solar energy as per the price and calculates who receives the extra charge at what cost, by using an auction mechanism.