Power Ledger and KEPCO extend renewable energy trial in Japan

As part of the new agreement, KEPCO will use Power Ledger's platform to create, track, trade and provide for the settlement of renewable energy credits called Non-Fossil Value (NFV) certificates, generated by rooftop solar systems.

NFVs enable electricity retailers to receive RECs for electricity that has been fed back into the grid from customers who own PV solar systems.

Power Ledger's technology can be used to track energy from renewable sources to offset emissions as well as the multitude of transactions relating to environmental commodities and renewable energy credits.

The Power Ledger platform is based on blockchain, a digital decentralised ledger, with every transaction immutable and recorded in real-time. Using Power Ledger's technology, RECs will be tracked across its entire lifetime – from generation to retirement, reducing the potential for duplication of use.

This trial will provide KEPCO the framework to work towards providing their RE100 customers the ability to use NFV certificates against RE100 claims. RE100 is a global initiative led by international non-profit The Climate Group in partnership with global disclosure network CDP (previously the Carbon Disclosure Project).

To be RE100 certified, a company must have electricity approved as renewable by the initiative, accompanied by Japan's NFV certificates with the condition that REC tracking information is added.

As of October 2019, the first tranche of customers became ineligible to receive the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) program's lucrative FIT model.

The first trial proved the accuracy and consumer acceptance of Power Ledger's technology in Japan. It demonstrated that communities could be provided with cheaper energy alternatives to offset existing energy costs, and allow energy-generating customers to monetise their renewable energy investments by selling surplus energy via Power Ledger's peer-to-peer (P2P) platform.

The second trial develops on from the collaboration between the two companies to test the efficacy of P2P transactions for FIT surplus power in Osaka.

The REC tokens generated by Power Ledger will be stored in a central KEPCO wallet. The trial is scheduled to commence in December 2019 with results expected in March 2020.

Read the article online at: https://www.energyglobal.com/solar/10122019/power-ledger-and-kepco-extend-renewable-energy-trial/